Neon Genesis Evangelion: Between Heaven and Hell
by Stavaros the Arcane
Summary: Before Shinji Ikari left for Tokyo3 his only friend said he would do great things. Now Shinji stands between mankind and doom at the hands of Angels. But something draws near, a threat that even the angels fear. Can Shinji stand against Angels and Demons?
1. Prologue, Heed the Call

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Between Heaven and Hell  
By Stavaros the Arcane

Prologue:

Twelve year old Shinji Ikari looked up at his tutor, the only real friend he had in his lonely childhood, as he finished the piece of music and moved his bow from the strings of his cello. The man smiled and applauded, "You are improving more and more, Shinji. I honestly think that there is really nothing you cannot do if you put your mind to it."

Elijah Malachi had been teaching Shinji for the last five years, beginning as merely his Cello instructor but later with the permission of Shinji's Guardians tutored the boy in a number of different subjects. As a result of this the shy, introverted Shinji had come out of his shell a bit, a strong adult figure in his life benefiting the boy whose young life was already full of issues. Elijah was an unusual man being born in Israel having moved to Japan after the chaos that followed the Second Impact had stabilized. He spoke several languages fluently and had helped Shinji get a basic grasp of a few of them. He never really spoke about what he did outside of tutoring and it was hard to tell just how old he was.

With the lesson concluded Elijah started walking Shinji home, as was custom for the two of them. They walked chatted back and forth for a while mostly discussing how Shinji was doing in school and other ideal chitchat. There was a moment of silence before Elijah said, "Shinji, very soon I'm going to have to leave."

Shinji looked into his teachers eyes, the odd gold-hued orbs looked back at him sadly. "Why?"

"Because there are important things I must do. And there are important things you will have to do without me."

Shinji blinked back tears, "So you will abandon me too, just like my father."

The two stopped walking and Elijah crouched to be eye to eye with Shinji. "Trust me when I say this, I have no desire to leave but I have no choice, I have to do this. In a few years you will be drawn into something you cannot fathom and I must play a role from the shadows to see to it that you come through it alright. We will meet again Shinji Ikari, you have my word." Shinji did not understand but hugged his teacher and friend that he would soon lose. Elijah wiped away Shinji's tears and the two continued to walk.

A month later Elijah Malachi had vanished without a trace.

-  
Chapter one: Heed the call

Shinji sighed and hung up the phone, "The same message telling me to get to a shelter. Is there a war on or something? Seriously is there a worse way to be stuck in an unfamiliar city." Shinji looked at the letter of summons his father had sent him, and then to the post card from the woman he was supposed to meet.

The picture of the attractive woman was far more pleasant to contemplate than the crappy situation he was in at the moment, so Shinji made full use of the distraction to keep from worrying. A sudden shiver went up his spine as though he was being watched. He saw a girl about his age with blue hair and red eyes, he blinked and suddenly she wasn't there anymore; leaving him staring around in confusion. His mind snapped back to the here and now when the explosions started.

Low flying aircrafts fired missiles at their massive target while heavy artillery sent salvos against it, sending rumble and debris crashing everywhere. As Shinji scrambled to keep from being crushed beneath the wreckage he finally caught sight of what it was that they were firing at. At first his mind could not accept what he was seeing, nothing could be that massive; but there it was before him a massive humanoid shape, spindly three clawed arms extending out of its massive torso the center of which lay a birdlike mask which swivelled back and forth as though desperately seeking something.

Suddenly the beast's eyes fell upon the teenager and the two locked gazes for a moment. The vastness of the creature's eyes seemed to consume Shinji yet beyond his all-consuming terror something flickered in his mind, the being seemed quizzical, even curious. And yet there was something beyond that, he could almost grasp it.

Shinji's concentration was broken by the next wave of explosions, and the sudden screech of a car skidding to a halt behind him. The door opened and the driver shouted "Get in!"

Shinji ran for the vehicle and leapt in, and looked to the driver as they peeled out of there. "Ms. Katsuragi?" Shinji stammered out in confusion.

"Call me Misato, but now isn't the time for pleasantries. Buckle up!"

Shinji clung to his seat for dear life as the car reached a speed that were clearly illegal anywhere other than a raceway ,the words "Bat out of Hell" crossed Shinji's mind...And that was when the JSSDF dropped the N2 mine on the invincible enemy. The Blast wave propelled the car even faster and caused it to flip and roll for a while until it skidded to a halt on all four wheels.

Misato turned to Shinji, "Are you all right?"

Shinji stammered, "Yeah...I...think so. Well I'm not dead anyways. I guess that's all I can hope for right now. Now can you tell me what the hell just happened, what the hell that thing was, and why the hell I was called to Tokyo 3 besides to get a front row seat to Armageddon?" The boy seemed to be on the verge of curling up into the fetal position.

Misato sympathetically nodded her head, "I'll explain what I can while we drive."

"So let me see if I understand everything so far: That thing reducing the city to rubble is called an Angel, You work under my father in an organization called NERV that fights them, and you need me for something important to help deal with that Angel." Shinji said as He and Misato entered the Geofort.

"Pretty much" Misato said as she led him further into NERV's central structure.

"I get the feeling that there is going to be more insanity dragging me down before this day is over." Shinji sighed.

* * *

The pair entered an elevator and descended to wherever it was they needed to get Shinji; as the door opened Shinji was greeted to the sight of a blonde woman in a lab coat checking something on her PDA. The rest of the huge room was not lit, but something huge loomed in the darkness. "Ah Misato late as usual, I see you managed to get the Third Child back here in one piece." The woman said to Misato, who shrugged and said, "What can I say Rits, driving conditions were murder."

The blonde woman sighed and addressed Shinji, "Shinji Ikari, I'm Dr. Ritsuko Akagi the Head of Project E here at NERV, I work under your father. I'm glad you're finally here."

Shinji nodded, "While I get the feeling I'm not going to like the answer, are you going to tell me why I was call here?"

Dr. Akagi touched a button on her PDA and the room suddenly lit up revealing it to be a massive hangar containing a giant horned purple face. Shinji took a step back in surprise; he gazed in awe and terror at the monstrous visage: Massive green eyes contrasted from its purple armoured face resembling something between human and beast decked with a single large horn. Dr. Akagi explained, "This is the Synthetic Human Evangelion Unit 01, the greatest weapons system devised by humanity to combat the angels. And you are here to pilot it."

Shinji spend a full thirty seconds trying to make sense of that statement, and then his body was racked with shivers. "You expect ME to pilot that THING? That's why I was called here?"

"Yes, that is why I have called you here." A voice came from above. Shinji looked up to see an observation deck above them and standing there and watching was Shinji's father. Gendo Ikari adjusted the orange-tinted glasses he always wore, between the hidden eyes and beard he found a way to be intimidating and cold no matter what he was doing. "The angel threatens to destroy humanity and only the Eva can stop it. It needs a suitable pilot to do so, thus I called you here to pilot it."

Shinji nearly had a nervous breakdown, he could barely stand. "That's why you called me here. So I could pilot this thing. Fight that monster that's attacking the city. I...I can't...I can't do it. How the hell can you ask this of me? You leave me alone for all these years and expect me to do this for you." He fell to his knees shaking.

Gendo turned to his sub-commander, "This pilot is useless, get Rei ready to pilot unit 01"

"In her condition?"

"She's not dead yet."

A medical team with a stretcher came into the hangar, a girl about Shinji's age lying on the stretcher clearly in serious condition. To Shinji's amazement and confusion he recognized the girl as the one he had seen earlier before everything went to hell. The Blue haired girl had one eye bandaged, one arm was in a sling, and she was hooked to an IV. She struggled the sit up, coughing up blood. There was a sudden explosion that shook the base.

Ritsuko swore "Damn it the angel has nearly reached the Geofront." Another explosion and a support beam crashed down from the ceiling heading for the stretcher bound girl. Shinji ran to try and move her but it seemed like it was too late...When there was a snapping of restraints and a massive purple arm snapped out grabbing the beam.

Shinji sat cradling the injured girl in his arms moving her out of the way, others rushed to check her condition. Shinji looked and saw blood on his hands and something snapped in his mind; memories of past times with his teacher, of lessons of when to stand up for yourself or others flashed by. "Father..." Gendo turned a look of mild disinterest at his son. Shinji got to his feet and looked his father in the eyes across the room, "What...The Hell...Is WRONG with you! This is your plan to save humanity? ARE YOU RETARDED?"

The room went utterly silent. No one spoke; shocked that anyone would talk to the menacing commander of NERV like that. Although he didn't show it even Gendo was surprised that Shinji had the balls.

Shinji continued "You mean to tell me that this is your plan send this giant purple abomination out to fight piloted by either your untrained, untested son or a girl who looks like she's half dead already? I knew you were cruel, I didn't think you were stupid! You disappoint me Father, but then again that's nothing new. What was plan B if she died before you could drag her into that thing, use her to guilt me into it? You say nothing to me for years and then expect me to pilot a giant killing machine for you? If you built this thing then you knew this threat was coming; what took you so long to call me here? If I'd known about this thing sooner maybe you'd have a second trained pilot on staff for this kind of emergency. Now you want me to pilot this monstrosity, to kill that angel for you. Well you know what, FUCK YOU DAD! You know what I hate the most about this, that your retarded plan to use me is going to work. I'd love to simply get out of here and leave you to wallow in your failure and stupidity but as you've informed me, Humanity is on the line. I'll pilot the damned thing, but only because you dropped the ball on saving humanity in my court." Shinji stopped talking, breathing heavily.

Gendo merely said, "Prep Unit 01 for launch" and left without so much as a glance at Shinji.

* * *

The moment his father was out of sight Shinji collapsed against a rail, the outburst of repressed anger depleted. The terror welled up in him again, he nearly hyperventilated. He looked at the injured girl now once again on the stretcher; she gazed at him, red eye contrasting with her pale skin and blue hair. With a fatalistic smile he panted "Sorry to steal your suicide mission, maybe next time." Time seemed to blur for Shinji, before he knew it he has on devices called A10 clips and is wearing a skin-tight uniform they called a plug suit. He feels like he's going to throw up. His thoughts are two conflicting mantras: _I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, mustn't run away_ was interrupted by a counter-point of: _What the hell was I thinking? What the hell was I thinking? WHAT the HELL was I thinking?_

He was in the "plug" before he snapped back to reality. The plug closed and began to fill with liquid, leading Shinji to return to panic mode for fear of drowning. Misato's face appeared before one eye "Shinji, calm down: the LCL is heavily oxygenated liquid, you'll be able to breathe just fine."

Shinji managed to return to a controllable level of panic. "Okay...I'm alright...actually that's a lie but maybe if I say it enough I can convince myself." Shinji said as the Eva activated and its restrains were removed  
Misato gave the order to launch the Eva

The angel paused in its rampage as the purple giant arrived on the surface, for the second time that day Shinji found himself under that terrifying yet curious gaze. Shinji trembled, trying to focus on working the giant robot.

"Don't worry about fighting just yet, just focus on walking." Misato said to him over the communicator.

"Walk, got it. Okay Eva, walk." The Evangelion lifted one leg and took a step. Shinji managed a nervous grin, "Great, wonderful, now let's keep this up and OH SHIT!"

Apparently the Angel did not want its new foe to get a clear footing. It charged Unit 01 with a shriek.

Shinji tried to dodge but just ended up causing the Eva to trip and fall which in turn tripped angel, causing them both to go down in a heap. "Crap Crap Crap!" Shinji swore lashing out with the Eva's fists, elbows, knees, and feet. There was no skill or finesse just desperation to keep the enemy from getting up again. For a while it seemed to work as Shinji got a shot in causing the angel to shriek in pain as its eye was pulped by a purple fist.

Then an invisible force sent the Eva flying back as the angel used it's AT field. Shinji screamed at the impact as his Eva crashed into a building. The Angel righted itself and let forth another shriek its injured torso mounted face rippled and healed as another masked face grew beside the first. The angel ceased its bellow and rushed to grab the Eva's arm and snapping it. Shinji's screams redoubled, it was his turn to take a beating.

The attack was furious as the Angel kept an unrelenting flurry of blows on the Eva. Through the pain Shinji glared into the Angel's eyes as a three fingered hand gripped the Eva's head.  
Shinji muttered to himself, "I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away..."  
_**  
Imustntrunaway Imustntrunaway Imustntrunaway  
**_

Shinji paused, was there an echo in here? Someone else was chanting the same mantra. He looked again to the angels eyes and saw something that shocked him before the angel pounded the Eva's face in with its glowing arm weapon and pain overcame his mind.

Desperation, born of fear.

The Angel was afraid!

* * *

Sachiel pounded and pounded at the Shadow of Lilith, the thing that the Lilim had sent to destroy him. '_**Just keep hitting it until it can't hurt me.**_' Sachiel repeated to himself trying to calm his nerves.

He looked at the enemy and released his hold on its head. Had he done it? Was it finished?

He had practically put a hole through its head. It laid unmoving, blood spraying from its head. Sachiel felt sick, yet relieved.

He had done it.

The way was clear.

He would unite with Father.

He would be safe...

And then the purple colossus twitched, then rose, then roared!

Back in the Geofort the command crew watched in horror as the angel had beat down the Eva and Shinji within. They were equally horrified to see it go berserk in response.

Misato shuddered thinking about what they had done to Shinji, "Please be alright, Shinji." She whispered to herself.

Unit 01 backhanded the angel, sending it flying as it regenerated its damaged arm. It roared again as it rushed its hated foe. Sachiel raised his AT field in response but Unit 01 engaged its own and tore through like it was wet paper. The angel tried to mount a defence but was no match for the Eva. Within minutes Sachiel was on the ground its arms broken, as the beast pounded on his core.

'_**It can't end like this**_' Sachiel's mind shrieked '_**Not like this**_'  
Images of Sachiel's siblings flashed through his mind.  
Would they too fall victim to this monster the Lilim had created in their own vain attempts to reunite with Father...

No...He couldn't let that happen.

No...Father must be found.

_**"NO I WILL NOT DIE LIKE THIS! I MUST NOT RUN AWAY!" **_

Sachiel managed to restore one of his arms and knocked Unit 01 off of him.

In the entry plug of Unit 01 Shinji stirred. What was that voice? Who was yelling at him? And why?  
He got his answer as he slowly became aware again, and the berserk rage of the Eva diminished slightly as its pilot flicker on the edge of consciousness.

_**I AM  
AS A CHILD OF HE WHO IS CALLED I AM, I HAVE COME.  
THOUGH I MUST WALK UPON THIS ABHORRED BATTLEFIELD I HAVE COME  
I AM THE FIRST OF MANY, SEEKERS OF OUR FATHER AND SALVATION.  
I FIGHT FOR MY BRETHREN THAT WE MAY BE HARRIED NO MORE  
THOUGH I FEAR WHAT FATE AWAITS ME I WILL NOT LET THEM DOWN  
I AM THE COVERING OF GOD  
ANGEL OF WATER  
I AM SACHIEL  
AND I AM NOT RUNNING ANYMORE!**_

Although barely conscious Shinji heard every word; he looked at the angel, its core damaged, its regeneration slowed, and one arm hanging uselessly at its side, but unwilling to yield. And Shinji felt a moment of regret as the Eva, still berserk charged and he slipped into oblivion.

Sachiel knew he was doomed but he would not back down, he had one choice left. Grasping his cracked core he tore off a chuck, screaming at the agony of breaking off a piece of his own soul, and focused all the light of his soul there.

"_**FOR MY BROTHER, DIE ABOMINATION OF LILITH!**_"

As the angel struck the Eva the core fragment detonated and the two titans were lost in the blinding flash.

As the blast cleared only one stood... Evangelion Unit 01 stood and roared its victory.

* * *

"_That was brave of you Cousin, to try and sacrifice yourself for the good of your brothers. You failed to destroy your foe, which both saddens me and leaves me relieved. If I had been able to reach you sooner this could have been avoided. I have only been able to contact a few of you Elohim and fewer still of the children of I AM heeded my words. You will bear the scars of your battle with the Evangelion as your healing is greatly weakened, but your role in things does not end here._"

Sachiel was bewildered, the pain made it hard to think, but he was alive. But how? And why? "_**Who are you?**_"

"_I am of the Malakim, child and servant of the one who is named **I CALL**, for now you may call me Prophet._"


	2. I got a smile on my face and I got four

NGE: Between Heaven and Hell

Chapter 2: I got a smile on my face and I got four walls around me

Shinji awoke to the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling. His mind tried to filter through the chaotic events of the last twenty-four hours, at least he thought it was twenty-four hours hopefully he hadn't been unconscious that long. He sat up in the bed and surveyed his surroundings; he was clearly in a hospital, he must have been brought here after the fight. He checked his arm and face, no wounds, but he remembered the pain of having his arm broken and having his face pounded in, and the phantom pain lingered.

He found his clothes nearby, cleaned and folded, giving him something to wear other than the hospital gown. As he stood in the doorway he saw a stretcher going by with the same pale girl from yesterday, again their eyes met and Shinji wondered what was going through her mind. With nothing to do he decided to wander around a bit, noting the number of people being tended to, all the people injured by the fight. And yet the unsettling thoughts that kept resurfacing were "It was afraid. It was afraid and yet it blew itself up trying to kill me. It was afraid just like I was..."

He was glad that his mp3 player was with his clothes, they were rare enough these days and it had been a gift from his teacher. And right now Shinji could really use some good memories and calming music to help relieve the stress the memories of the fight brought on.

* * *

About half an hour later Misato arrived to pick him up, finding him in one of the sitting areas gazing out the window, humming to himself with his headphones on. She heard him singing under his breath in English "In this beautiful life, there's always some sorrow... And it's a double edged knife but there's always tomorrow...It's up to you now if you sink or swim... just keep the faith that you ship will come in, it's not so bad..."

"Shinji," Misato said just before the chorus, causing him to turn around and remove his earphones, "ready to get out of here?"

"Definitely, I'm not that fond of hospitals." Shinji replied as he got up "I hope you weren't standing there long I tend to zone out sometimes while listening to music."

Misato chuckled as they walked to the elevator.

The Elevator opened to reveal Gendo Ikari, in response Shinji immediately stiffened. The two made eye contact as they both tried to get into the others mind and figure out how to react. After a moment the Commander moved past them out of the Elevator and Shinji simply walked into the empty elevator followed by a rather confused Misato.

Shinji exhaled a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. Misato said, "Father Issues? I can relate."

"Sometimes I think I'll never understand my Father" Shinji responded, "I hate to think how messed up I would be if he was the only father figure in my life. I'm positive if there was a world's worse parent award he would hold it for most of the last decade. I can only hope they aren't forcing me to share the same living space as him, although from the way my father is I somehow doubt that enters the equation."

Misato shook her head, "Wow and I thought my relationship with my father was bad. Now that you mention it, I'm not sure where you're staying we'll have to go check that out."

Shinji sighed "Knowing my luck they'll have stuck me in some tiny windowless cell somewhere."

Misato replied, "I'm sure it won't be that bad..."

* * *

"You want to put him WHERE?" Misato demanded. It was a little later and Misato had just been told where Shinji would be living.

"His quarters are going to be located in section D7" the cowering NERV employee said.

"But those rooms are like windowless Cell..." Misato turn to Shinji who had a cross between an "I told you so" and a "Damn it I hate it when I'm right" on his face.

Misato shook her head, "Right change of plans. You're staying with me."

"You did WHAT!"

Misato winced and moved the phone away from her ear. "Ritsuko I'm not going to let them just pack him away in some tiny room like a prisoner. My place has extra rooms and is secure. It's a much better place for Shinji. I promise not to do anything inappropriate with him..."

Ritsuko didn't take the joke well. "I SHOULD SAY NOT! WHY WOULD YOU EVEN JOKE ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT?"

Misato winced again and hung up on the scientist who had launched into a full blown lecture about Misato's immaturity. "That settles it Shinji you're bunking with me."

Shinji smiled and tried to contain the storm of emotions that filled him at this moment; as a boy with very few friends someone going out of their way for his benefit was something that touched him deeply. "Thank you Misato..." He said barely keeping his voice from wavering.

* * *

'This woman just keeps finding ways to amaze me.' Shinji thought to himself as he stood at the door of Misato's apartment. It was both a blessing and a curse; on one hand she was caring for him and had shown him wondrous things like the Geofort and Tokyo 3 rising from the earth, on the other hand there was her driving...and this. The apartment was a chaotic mess of beer cans and food packaging, but mostly beer cans.

"Sorry the place is a little messy, I only just moved in a few days ago." Misato said as she walked into the apartment.

"This... is a little messy?" Shinji said dumbfounded. He paused as he was about to take a step into the slovenly apartment.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Misato called, smiling at him. "This is your home too from now on."

Shinji hesitated only a moment longer before stepping inside "I'm home."

"Welcome home Shinji."

Shinji allowed himself to relax and gave a small smile. His only real friend up until now had been Elijah, his tutor in so many things, but the man who Shinji had not seen in years had told Shinji people who would reach out to him would be in his future and not to be too afraid to reach back.

Shinji remembers a talk about something called the Hedgehog's dilemma, that hedgehogs want to huddle together for warmth but are afraid to get close to each other for fear of hurting each other with their spines, and Elijah's response to it. After explaining that it was crap from a biological perspective, Elijah said "If hedgehogs could talk and were told about this idea they'd tell us to stop being Emo all the time and to remember that a little warmth from others is more than worth a few pokes."

Shinji decided to take this to heart as he joined Misato inside their new home.

* * *

Beyond the initial shock of the mess Shinji was being bombarded with more surprises that made him question whether being welcomed into Misato's home was a blessing or curse. A fridge full of beer, closets full of snacks and instant food and little else; it was like entering some bizarre new world.

Misato set to work making a welcome meal for Shinji; instant food smothered with hot sauce seemed to be the extent of her culinary expertise. Shinji found once again he was staring at both the meal and his new guardian who was downing a beer in one gulp that would impress many a frat boy.

"Oh Yeah! That's more like it. Nothing like a good beer after a long day." Misato said clearly enjoying herself. She turned her attention back to Shinji, "Well go ahead, dig in. A nice home cooked meal should make you feel right at home."

Shinji looked at the food a little nervously, "Sorry I'm not used to stuff like this..."

Misato glared at him, leading forward "Are you being PICKY?"

Shinji struggled to respond, mostly because Misato was giving him a view of her cleavage most men would kill for. "No, no that's not it at all. I...I'm just..." He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts "Sorry I'm babbling like an idiot. Itadaki-masu" and took his first bite of the food.

Misato leaned back and gave an amused smirk as she chuckled at the boy's obvious discomfort. 'I still got it.' She thought to herself

* * *

The food wasn't quite as bad as Shinji thought it would be, it was still edible, but he'd be damned if he was going to let her do the cooking around here anymore. Not unless he taught her some things about preparing a proper meal.

After the meal they played rock-paper-scissors over dividing the chores. Shinji tried to lose as often as possible and managed to land most of the important chores. He'd make this place liveable yet.

Once that was done Misato said, "Well you've had a long stressful few days Shinji. You know what would help relieve some of that tension..."

Maybe it was the tone Misato said that in, maybe in was the fact that her casual clothes did little to hide her 'assets', maybe it was overacting hormones of an average teenage male, but Shinji's thoughts went to a very dirty place for a moment. 'Damn it! Bad Brain that is not what she is saying. This is not some cheesy badly written porno!'

"...a nice hot bath!" Misato finished not noticing the boy's battle with his inner pervert.

Shinji sighed, "Yeah that sounds nice."

Shinji's next surprise came upon attempting to enter the bathroom. There the now nude teenager met his other roommate. As is completely natural for someone seeing a penguin suddenly walk out of the bathroom Shinji screamed like a girl and panicked.

Through several trips and stumbles he ended up in front of Misato after knocking over the curtain that had separated the bathroom area from the main area. Untangling himself, standing up and breathing heavily Shinji turned to Misato. "There...there was a...Penguin in the bathroom! WHY WAS THERE A PENGUIN IN THE BATHROOM?"

Misato said, "Oh that's PenPen, your other roommate. He's a hot spring penguin."

Said Penguin waddled past Shinji and headed for a small secondary Fridge that Shinji had not noticed before. The Avian extended a claw digit and opened the door, then paused and looked at Shinji.

"Wark"

"Sorry about the panicking. I wasn't expecting the Bathroom to be occupied."

The Penguin cocked his head to one side, mildly surprised the new boy was accepting him as a roommate so quickly. He waved a flipper and warked again in such a tone as if to say 'no big deal' then headed into his Fridge.

Shinji sighed, "Well that was awkward."

"Yup" Misato said reaching for the beer that was acting as a censor for Shinji's Junk, Revealing the smaller toothpick box fulfilling the same role (because the universe can't resist a mythology gag at Shinji's expense) "You might want to go take that bath now, I don't have anything smaller than the toothpick box."

"What do are you talking abo..." Shinji began before he remembered the fact he was standing nude in the presence of a woman. With a bright red blush and another girly shriek, Shinji ran for the bathroom.

As soon as he was gone, Misato cracked up unable to keep a straight face anymore.

* * *

While the Bath helped to relax his body his mind was not at ease. He went over what he could remember about the fight in his mind. The collateral damage, the blurred feelings of violent fury from when the Eva had gone berserk, but more than anything the voice he had heard while in the entry plug.

Sachiel

It said its name was Sachiel

The monster he had fought and killed was not some mindless beast on a rampage, it had a name, it had people to fight for, and most of all it had been afraid but kept fighting anyways.

He lay in his new room staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling, trying to figure out what it all meant. When the door slid open a crack.

"Shinji, are you awake." Misato slid open the door to his room and stood in the doorway. "I just wanted to say that what you did was a good thing. You came through for everyone despite being suddenly thrown into the middle of things. Good night."

As Misato closed the door, Shinji let out a sigh. While his inner confusion and turmoil still raged he felt a little bit better. With this mental relief Shinji drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Weeks passed as life for Shinji fell into a routine; ensure the apartment is and remains liveable, get lectured about how the Eva's work, and do synchronization tests. This took up the majority of Shinji's time and frankly he was getting bored, two weeks in they had finally stared letting him do some combat simulations which were amounting to fire an Eva-scale assault rifle at a target. While he wasn't thrilled with the training or equipment he was happy at least he would have weapons for next time.

Shinji sighed as he lined up his target again. It resembled the last angel he had fought. Sachiel. He wasn't sure anymore if what he had heard in the plug had been real but that name, the name of the first thing he had killed was etched in his mind.

As he shot the core of the sim-dummy "Um I hate to criticise your training program Doctor Akagi but...well frankly the last angel didn't stand still and let me shoot at it. In fact that is the last thing it would have done, it rushed me and tried to make sure I couldn't respond at all. I'm not a tactician or a soldier but I don't think I'm even close to sufficiently trained; target the centre, pull the switch will only get me so far. You crew are the geniuses, got any ideas on how we can make up for my lack of training faster? "

Doctor Akagi frowned, "We'll look into it. For now continue the training program as is."

Misato looked at her scientist friend, "It's good to know he's taking this seriously."

One of the Bridge Bunnies, Dr. Akagi's assistant Maya Ibuki said, "I'm surprised he's willing to do this at all."

Ritsuko nodded, "yes, he doesn't seem to be simply following orders like one might expect. And he's established that he isn't doing his father any favours."

Misato cut in, "Well there's the whole guilt-trip/blackmail with Rei, which Shinji is still bitter about, but there seems to be more to it than that..."

"You know I can still hear you, right? Make sure you turn off communications next time you want to talk about me behind my back." Shinji's voice seemed conflicted with being annoyed and amused.

The bridge crew glared at the long haired man at one terminal. Shigeru Aoba shrugged and gave a hurt look "why is it whenever something goes wrong everyone looks at me?"

Shinji chuckled as he went back to target practise. The unanswered question forgotten in the midst of a round of 'whose fault is this'

* * *

After three weeks Shinji learned he'd be able to regain a little normalcy, he was going to start going to school here in Tokyo 3.

In the morning Shinji opened Misato's door seeing the woman rapped tight in the covers. "Good morning Misato, time to get up."

"Leave me alone I just got back from working the night shift." was the response from deep within the covers.

"Sorry about that then. There's some breakfast in the fridge for you. I'm heading out now." Shinji said.

Misato managed to stick her head out of the covers, "Have a nice first day at school. And take out the burnable trash with you."

Shinji smiled, "Sure Misato."

Shinji entered the class room, "Wow pretty empty" He said to himself.

"Excuse me..." Shinji turned to see a brown haired girl with freckles and pigtails looking at him "Are you in the right room I've never seen you here before?"

Shinji felt a little nervous having a girl his age talk to him, a cute one at that, particularly since that voice seemed to hold authority. "This is class 2A right? I just transferred in so I'm a new student."

The Girl nodded, "well you found the right class. I'm the class Representative Hikari Hokari, nice to meet you. You shouldn't have trouble finding a seat, sadly most of our classmates have either evacuated or transferred out."

Shinji looked around the room; there were a lot of empty seats. He also noticed the injured girl, Rei Ayanami, from his first day was in this class, her arm and eye still bandaged despite her recovery so far.

"That's a shame." Shinji replied, "It's a pleasure to meet you Class Rep. I am Shinji Ikari."

* * *

After introducing himself to the class Shinji sat and tried to pay attention to his teacher, who droned on more about the second impact and life before, during, and after said disaster that the actual material he was supposed to be covering. This lead to Shinji's mind wandering; he thought back to the student who had arrived late, the athletic boy who wore a track uniform rather than the normal school dress code. From the random conversations he had managed to learn the boy had been absent the last two weeks but anything else that was said was guessing although most linked the absence to the robot incident.

There was a beep on his screen as someone sent him a message on his laptop. 'Are you the robot pilot? Y/N' it read.

Shinji had no idea who sent it, nor if he was supposed to keep his pilot status a secret. He didn't think Piloting was something worth bragging about but at the same time not something to be ashamed of and try to hide.

He typed a single word, a simple, straightforward, and honest response; which sent the classroom into an explosion of excitement. He was soon surrounded by classmates bombarding him with questions. While Hikari tried to get people back to their seats even the class rep could not halt the chaos.

"Um one at a time I can't answer you unless I can actually hear questions. And I can't promise I'll be able to answer everything." Shinji begged.

"How were you chosen?" "Were there any tests?" "Were you scared?" "What's the cockpit look like?"

Shinji sighed, "Most of that info is a secret even from me but to answer you: No clue, not that I know of, Hell Yes, and filled with goo, anything more than that is probably classified. Next round of questions?"

"Hey what's the Robot's name?"

"Evangelion Unit 01" Shinji replied, "Although I've heard it referred to mostly as Eva or Unit 01 for short."

"And its ultimate attack?"

"Um, I don't really know if it has one. So far I've only been shown a giant rifle and some sort of vibrating knife. And I didn't have those the first time they had me pilot the thing."

"Amazing!" "So Cool!" "You're the pride of the school!" "Where Do you live?" The Class descended into chaos as the bells rang and the teacher announced class was over. Hikari managed to break up the mob as people were herded out of the room.

Shinji sighed kind of embarrassed "Well that wasn't as bad as expected. Hopefully that'll be the excitement for the day.

* * *

Shinji was knocked to the ground of the athletic boy punched him across the jaw. "Sorry new Kid but I've got to beat you up! I won't feel right until I've smacked you around a bit."

Shinji wiped the blood from his face as he tried to process this. As he did the other witness to these events, a nerdy boy with glasses and a camera said "Sorry Toji's little Sister got hurt in the incident with the Robot. Better let him work out his anger now."

Shinji looked back at his attacker, Toji. Both he and his friend were starting to walk away "Okay, I'll let this punch slide. You're sister got hurt and punching me is probably the closest you will get to retribution for it." Shinji got up, and dusted himself off. "But you only get one freebie; I am not going to be a punching bag for something forced on me against my will."

Toji stopped and turned around advancing on Shinji and grabbing his collar, drawing back his fist to punch Shinji again. Shinji glared back at him before driving a fist into the taller boy's stomach. The motion caught Toji by surprise as did the follow up head butt.

"Any more hits cost you." Shinji growled.

To his credit Toji recovered quickly and responded with a powerful punch that caught Shinji in the chest knocking him back. Both boys charged each other, exchanging blows until Shinji tackled Toji managing to bring them both to the ground. Again they began trading blows; while Toji was the stronger of the two Shinji gave as good as he got, not through strength or skill but with a combination of whirlwind effort and a refusal to fight fair. More than Toji, Shinji employed knees, elbows, and even teeth once or twice in addition to fists. The goal was to land as many hits as possible while limiting how many Toji could throw back.

Eventually Toji got a grip and threw Shinji off. The Two of them were bruised, bloody, and breathing heavily but they charged at each other regardless their fists drawn back. There was a jarring impact as the two blows landed and they stood in a traditional cross-counter pose.

They stood there for a moment before both fell to the ground. As they began to rise for another round they heard Hikari's voice ring out "TOJI! KENSUKE! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!" Rage and horror echoed in her voice as she drew near. Surprisingly she was not alone, Rei was there as well.

The two girls stood in the small gap between the two prone fighters: Hikari facing Toji and Rei facing Shinji. While Hikari was screaming at Toji, Rei said to Shinji, "There is an emergency call. We need to return to base."

Shinji spat, the spit dyed red with blood. "Crap another angel. Toji, once that is over I'll be back to check if we've settled this yet."

Toji looked passed Hikari at the new kid and grit his teeth.

Kensuke said, "Well I'll say this for the new kid he's got balls."

Any further comment was cut off by the alarm.


	3. Sun and Steel

NGE: Between Heaven and Hell

Chapter 3: Sun and Steel

The angel that approached the city was vastly different in appearance than the previous one; while the first had been roughly humanoid this one resembled a giant flying invertebrate. Most of its body was made up of its long tube-like rear body while the front was composed of a spade shaped 'head' with marking resembling eyes. At the region of the angels body that linked the 'head' to the rest was a segment of the beast underbelly where the core was surrounded by boney twitching legs that resembled a ribcage as well as two segmented arms higher up. Finally on top was a masklike face similar to the one the last angel had shown. The creature was a deep burgundy in hue with a slightly purple underbelly.

The city shifted into battle mode, lowering buildings and raising fortifications to prepare for the coming battle. As the Angel entered the city's air space gun emplacements and missile batteries opened fire which had about as much of an effect on this one as similar attacks had on the last angel, that is to say none whatsoever.

At the command centre in the depths of the NERV Geofort the bridge crew watched the events unfold. "What a waste of the taxpayers' money." Sub-commander Fuyutsuki sighed at the waste of military spending as more missiles harmlessly exploded against the Angel's AT Field. The Angel had struck while Gendo was away on business leaving the elderly second in command as the ranking NERV Command staff present.

"They won't let us do our job until they've had a chance to shoot at something for a while" Replied Misato waiting for the signal that the Eva was ready to launch.

Aoba said, "We've received the request to field the Evangelion again."

Misato grumbled, "Those pesky bastards. We'd have launched the Evangelion whether they said so or not."

* * *

The Entry plug was inserted into Unit 01 and the activation sequence began. Shinji waited patiently for time to launch. "Why am I doing this again?" He asked himself, feeling a slight sting of the LCL on his various small cuts and bruises. "Right, saving humanity from giant space monsters or whatever the Hell the Angels are." He sighed, this was going to suck...big time.

Toji and Kensuke sat in their assigned shelter with the rest of their class. Kensuke was grumbling because the only signal from outside was the standard 'we are controlling the flow of information about the giant monster fight that's about to happen' message. And that's when Kensuke got an idea. Most people would call it a stupid idea. In fact many would go as far to call it suicidal and ask Kensuke if he was trying to earn himself a Darwin award. And of course like any stupid idea Kensuke was about to drag his friend along for the Ride.

"Hey Toji, I need to talk to you in private for a bit." Kensuke said

"What for?" Toji replied

"Just give me a second, okay."

"Fine."

Toji got up and walked over to the Class Rep. As he approached she shot him a dirty look which made him wince for a second. Hikari had been the one to do the quick patch up job on Toji after the fight while giving him a lecture about how stupid he had been as well as how bad it was for him to be starting fights. "What do you want Baka Toji?" She asked her anger still very clear.

"Ken and I gotta go to the John" Toji answered.

"You should have gone before we got here! Oh wait you couldn't because you were licking your wounds after brawling with the new kid!" Hikari was not fond of stupidity and violence especially not having to clean up afterwards. "Just go."

Had she not let her annoyance at Toji's earlier actions occupy her mind then she might have noticed something was up. I mean men going to the bathroom in pairs, how very suspicious.

(This is the part where we have a brief scene change to the bathroom and the author gets beaten up for a really lame joke.)

Toji and Kensuke stood in front of the urinals staring straight ahead and not making eye contact as is standard urinal etiquette. Toji broke the silence "So what's this about?"

"I want to see it. At least once in my life I just have to see it." Kensuke replied.

"The battle out there? Are you out of your mind Ken?" Toji snapped back.

Kensuke continued "Nobody knows when the monsters may attack again; this could be the only chance in our lifetime to see this! Just help me unlock the gate that's all I ask."

Toji groaned "You do realize this is going to get you killed if you go out there."

Kensuke replied "You don't know if that will happen even if we stay in the shelter. If I could be killed anyways I'd rather get to see the fight first."

Toji shook his head, "Man why are you so damn morbid. We aren't going to die here, what do you think NERV's for?"

"And what is their big weapon to do that? The robot the new kid pilots; and he's recovering from a brawl with you. What if he can't or won't pilot after that." Kensuke said.

Toji was quiet for a second, "No... The kid would not back down. He wasn't holding back when we fought so there is no way that he would back down from something this important. I may not like the bastard after what happened to my sister but I can acknowledge he has guts."

Kensuke smiled, "In that case shouldn't we see him in action to prove our thoughts about him?"

Toji frowned "Damn you can be downright pushy when you want something Kensuke."

* * *

"Shinji, are you ready to head out?" said Misato's voice over the commlink.

"Yes. I had my warm up round already."

Misato frowned at that, mentally noting to talk to Shinji about that once the crisis was over.

Ritsuko spoke next, "Listen to me. Neutralize the Angel's AT field then fire a volley with the pallet rifle. Just like we practiced, you can handle that right?"

"Alright, I can do that." Shinji replied, then muttered "I hope that actually works."

Misato gave the order, "Eva launch!"

And Unit 01 shot up to the surface.

* * *

Toji and Kensuke stopped panting at the top of a large hill. From here they had an excellent view of the city and the soon to be battle ground. Kensuke raised he camera as the angel came into sight. "This is amazing; my efforts are paying off already!"

Toji was less excited, "How did I let you talk me into this stupid plan?"

As they watched the angel seemed to shift going from its horizontal flight mode to a vertical standing mode. The head bent forward providing some protection to its core and its arms shifted so they would have a better range of motion.

"And here comes the main event" Kensuke said, almost giddy as the giant elevator opened to reveal Unit 01. "There it is" The military Otaku said in awe.

* * *

"AT field deployed" Reported Maya.

Misato said, "Do it just as we planned, okay Shinji"

"Right, aim for the centre pull the switch got it." Shinji said.

Eva-sized assault rifle in hand Shinji pulled out of cover and fired off a stream of bullets at the angel. Unfortunately this created a great deal of smoke that obscured the angel.

Shinji stopped firing and realized his mistake, "Shit"

"You idiot! You hid the enemy with your own smoke!" Misato shouted.

"I know, I know!" Shinji said, instinctively going for cover just as glowing whiplike tendrils lashed out of the smoke shearing a nearby building in half. "See that's the kind of shit we didn't have in the sim! Crap crap crap!"

Sticking to cover Shinji fired a few bursts at the angel but it wasn't letting him get any clear shots at it before the energy whips would strike at him. The most recent attack not only cut his cover to bits leaving the Eva exposed but sliced through the rifle.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Shinji screamed.

* * *

"What the hell he's already losing!" Toji said.

Kensuke said, "maybe his fight with you really messed him up."

"Shut up!" Toji shouted.

* * *

"We're sending up another rifle, take it" Misato said.

Shinji grunted "I'm being tossed around like a ragdoll up here trying not to get cut in half. Getting to the spare rifle isn't going so well. Oh Shit not again!"

The angel advanced its whips lashing out with terrifying speed cutting a swath through the remaining aboveground buildings and knocking the desperately dodging Evangelion. It let loose a furious flurry that cut through a building and sent the Eva flying several city blocks and severing the Eva's power cord.

The moment Shinji heard the frantic beeping of the Eva going to battery power he swore, "WHOSE BRIGHT IDEA WAS TO MAKE A GIANT ROBOT YOU HAVE TO PLUG IN!"

"_**Ha take that Purple Bitch!"**_

Shinji's eyes widened, as his Eva tried to rise "Oh you have got to be kidding me..."

A tendril whipped out and wrapped itself around the Eva's ankle. Followed by a vicious tug that took the Eva off balance, then off the ground; the Angel started smashing unit 01 back and forth like an angry child with a toy.

Between throws Shinji heard more from the angel "_**This'll *smash* teach you *smash* stupid *smash* filthy *smash* Dirt Monkeys *smash* to get in the way of your betters! *smash***_"

The angel paused for a second, "_**You know, somehow I thought you'd be tougher if you managed to beat Sachiel"**_

"Great," Shinji said through grit teeth, "Not only is it kicking my ass but it's insulting me while it does so. Aw crap what's it doing now...no no no !"

The angel got Unit 01 airborne and swung it around like a lasso before releasing the mecha and sending it flying.

There was a thud as the Eva landed on the hilltop where two certain students had been watching the fight. They were currently huddling together terrified between the mecha's outstretched fingers.

Toji broke the stunned silence first "are we dead?"

"I think i wet myself." Kensuke sobbed back

Toji instinctively put a little distance between him and his friend "okay, not dead."

* * *

Shamshel, the fourth angel began to advance, "_**I got some nice air and distance on that throw. That'll impress the others. I'll show them I am not dead weight. We'll be saved because I got to Father, because I was strong. So what if this Dirt Monkey wearing Lilith's skin and managed to kill Sachiel, I am strong enough, I will win.**_" He kept telling himself that as if it would drown out all of his doubts and insecurities.

* * *

"Two of Shinji's classmates?" Misato shouted, in complete shock at how wrong things were going.

Ritsuko was equally shocked, "What are they doing there?"

* * *

The angel was advancing on them again, it lashed out with its whips and Unit 01 held its arms out absorbing as much of the blows as possible with it's AT field.

Shinji shouted over the comm, "Misato, I need some help here. I've only got a little less than four minutes before I'm driving the world's biggest paperweight and I don't want those guys down there getting hurt. I'm out of my depth here!"

"Why isn't he fighting back?" Toji asked as he saw the Eva getting pounded on.

"Because we're here," Kensuke said still shaking. "He can't fight because of us!"

* * *

"Three minutes and thirty-five seconds of internal power remaining." Maya read out, fear clearly present in her voice.

Misato said, "Shinji let them into the plug. We'll make a temporary retreat once they're secure. We'll regroup."

Ritsuko turned to her long time friend and said, "You think you can allow unauthorized civilians into the entry plug?"

"I'm authorizing it." Misato said without emotion

"You're exceeding your authority, Captain Katsuragi" Ritsuko snapped back.

"Three minutes power remaining" Maya read off

"Hold the Eva on your current commands and eject the plug. Hurry up!" Misato said.

"Yes maam." Shinji replied.

* * *

The plug emerged from the Eva's spine and Misato's voice came over a speaker saying "You two hurry up and get in."

The two teens scrambled in, surprised to find the place full of liquid. The plug lit up again and the two got their first look at Shinji piloting.

"Abnormal conditions occurring in the nervous system!" Maya said

"Of course, you've allowed two foreign bodies into the plug." Ritsuko commented.

Shinji managed to have the Eva rise and make some distance between himself and Shamshel.

"Now retreat!" Misato shouted.

Shinji moved to do just that. He wasn't going to risk his life and those of his schoolmates unnecessarily.

Unfortunately Shamshel had other plans. An energy whip lashed out and wrapped itself around Unit 01's left arm scouring the already burnt and damaged armour.

"_**YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE DIRT MONKEY!**_"

Toji and Kensuke both had their jaw drop. Shinji winced as he felt the sympathetic burning pain in his arm. "You heard him too? Good I thought it was trauma when I heard Sachiel."

"_**I AM**_

_**AS A CHILD OF HE WHO IS CALLED I AM, I AM HERE**_

_**THOUGH MY FEET DO NOT TOUCH THE CORRUPT EARTH, I AM HERE**_

_**I AM HE WHO SHALL PROVE HIMSELF GLORIOUS **_

_**AS I RADIATE MY GLORY AND POWER YOU SHOULD BE HUMBLED**_

_**AND I WILL SHOW MY BRILLIANCE TO ALL AND RECIEVE THE HONOR TO WHICH I AM DUE**_

_**I AM THE LONELY CONQUEROR OF GOD**_

_**THE ANGEL OF MORNING**_

_**I AM SHAMSHEL**_

_**AND I AM...**__**VICTORIOUS**__**!"**_

While held fast by one energy whip Unit 01 could not dodge the other, which plunged into the Eva's abdomen like a knife going all the way through. Had it been a little higher the blow would have hit the Eva's core and it would have all been over. Shinji doubled over in pain as he felt like he was being impaled, even Kensuke and Toji felt it although not to the same extent.

And now Shamshel began to gloat as he began slowly sawing upwards toward's the Eva's core "_**Well Dirt Monkey it looks like it ends here for you. And soon it will be over for your entire race. I can't believe that miserable failure Sachiel couldn't take you out. I mean the cowardly loser blew himself up and still couldn't get the job done. He went down like one of you worthless dirt monkeys"**_

Maybe it was the pain, or the previous brawl, or the risk to everything he knew or cared about, or even the fact that the Eva itself had one hell of a self preservation instinct, but when Shamshel insulted Sachiel's sacrifice something snapped inside Shinji.

Shinji felt the savage presence that had taken control of the Eva during the first fight rise up threatening to go berserk, but this time Shinji mentally shoved it aside with the equivalent of a 'wait you goddamn turn!'

The Left hand of the Eva reached out and grabbed hold of the energy whip giving it a sudden tug which drew Shamshel a little closer.

"_**What are you doing dirt monkey?" **_The angel was confused by this move. It was even more confused when the Eva wrapped another length of tendril around it's arm and pulled the angel closer again.

"How dare you." Shinji said almost a whisper yet it was heard by everyone, the angel, his passengers, even the bridge crew. "How dare you act so high and mighty?" Yank, wrap, pull; the Eva repeated the process drawing the angel closer and closer despite its struggle to maintain some distance.

Shinji roared, "HOW DARE YOU MOCK THE SACRIFICE OF SOMEONE WHO FOUGHT AND DIED WHILE TERRIFIED BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED THEY HAD SOMEONE TO PROTECT!"

Yank, wrap, Pull

"HOW DARE YOU TRIVIALIZE THE LOSS OF THOSE WHO SUFFERED?"

The angel was futilely trying to get free, trying to strike upward to strike the Eva's core.

A shoulder pylon on the Eva opened and the Eva drew out a prog knife in its free hand.

Shamshel could feel the killing intent coming off of the Eva and the human inside. And the bravado that the angel relied on crumbled. "_**LET GO OF MEEEEEEE!" **_

Even those who couldn't hear the Angel saw its fear as it was dragged closer. The Bridge crew was so shocked that they failed to announce the Eva only had one minute of power left.

"_**LET ME GO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"**_

"Sachiel didn't beg" Was the last thing Shinji Ikari said before ramming the knife into Shamshel's core with an incoherent, almost animal cry of rage. The vibrating knife whirled as it drilling into the angels core while Shinji instinctively began forcing his AT field into the knife causing it to overclock its normal operation.

Shamshel screamed the agony was unbearable. "_**Father...Brothers...Help ME!" **_

And then Shamshel was no more. The core and much of the upper body seemed to explode all over the landscape as the Eva's internal battery finally died.

In the plug there was darkness and silence. Then there was a tiny sound, a weak and almost inaudible sobbing.

Toji Suzhara and Kensuke Aida looked at the pilot who had saved their lives as he gently sobbed. Several minutes passed before Toji swallowed his pride and put a hand on Shinji's shoulder. Shinji turned to him and their eyes locked, there was no exchange of words. The two looked to Kensuke who nodded. The two had watch while Shinji had shown he was willing to go through hell for people he barely knew; this moment of weakness where he was most vulnerable as he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders would remain between the three of them. A secret between men, and between friends.

* * *

"_This is most regrettable, Sachiel's life I could at least save. Sadly even I have limits. However, I will not abandon you're essence to the scavengers. You may yet be able to serve you're brethren, cousin Shamshel._"

The angel known as Prophet stood, his assumed form resembling a masked version of a traditional angel. In his outstretched hand he held a swirling sphere of purple hue that resembled a miniature angel's core.

"_I hope it will all be enough. THEY will arrive soon and then all Hell will break loose._"


	4. Lonely Aircraft

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Between Heaven and Hell

Chapter Four: Lonely Aircraft

* * *

Gendo Ikari sat in his office, which seemed on par with the kind of lair you'd expect to see in a super-villain's secret base leading to some rather unfortunate implications about the Commander of NERV.

Gendo was having a phone call on a secure line with an unknown contact. Their conversation went something like this.

"...I have answered the information requests with falsified data as ordered; government interference should be non-existent within the week. But something has come up that I felt you should be informed of. As you may be aware 'that project' is coming to completion ahead of schedule."

Gendo nodded, "Yes I was informed and it is being dealt with, it is of little significance."

"Sir several of our inside sources on the project were transferred from the project and the few remaining have provided less and less useful information. I believe our info on the project became outdated months ago but someone has been keeping it from appearing so. I'm also following leads that this might not be the only project of this nature that is in the works."

Gendo frowned, more troubling than the rival project and its early completion was the possibility that NERV's intelligence network had been compromised or was being blocked. "Look into this issue about our intelligence. The plan for the 'other project' will proceed as planned."

* * *

Immediately after Shamshel's attack and Shinji, Kensuke, and Toji had received a thorough debrief including a number of lectures at Toji and Kensuke for leaving the shelter during an emergency situation.

Although Shinji was apologetic about not following Misato's retreat order he was quickly forgiven since he had not really had the option of disengaging the angel. However then the topic Shinji had been dreading came up.

For this part of the debriefing only Misato and Dr. Akagi were the only NERV staff in the room although they claimed this would be recorded. There was a moment of silence as Shinji waited for them to ask him about it, while the two NERV staff tried to figure out how to ask the questions.

Misato finally started with, "Shinji, who is Sachiel?" The last words Shinji had said before going apeshit on the angel had stuck in the captain's mind. 'Sachiel didn't beg.'

Shinji sighed, "You're going to think I'm crazy and have me get my head examined but no point hiding it. Sachiel was the first angel I fought."

Dr. Akagi narrowed her eyes, unlike the others in the room she knew about SEELE's classifications for the angels.

Misato, unaware of this, asked "You've given the third angel a name?"

Shinji shook his head. "No I didn't, that name came from the angel's mouth so to speak. He, I'm pretty sure it was male, referred to himself as Sachiel, Covering of God and angel of water. Right before he attempted to destroy unit 01 in a suicide attack screaming for me to die for Sachiel's brothers. Apparently family meant a lot to angels since Sachiel and Shamshel, today's angel both mentioned brothers and their father."

Misato and Ritsuko stared at Shinji as though he'd grown an extra head.

Ritsuko spoke next, "you claim the angels spoke to you? Perhaps there is some level of mental contamination we haven't been detecting."

Shinji sighed, "Yeah I wasn't really sure about Sachiel either until I heard Shamshel talking today. Toji and Kensuke can back me up on this."

Toji and Kensuke nodded. Toji said, "It was hard to understand everything the angel said but I got the gist of it. Shinji looked like he got every word."

Kensuke asked Shinji, "Did the last one refer to humans as dirt monkeys too?"

Shinji shook his head, "No, Sachiel was fucking terrified but had something to fight for. Shamshel was an asshole going as far to insult his dead brother and all the casualties from the last battle."

Misato said, "No wonder you went off on him... The angel, Shamshel was begging? We saw it spaz out as you reeled it in but really, begging?"

Shinji nodded. "I'm not sure how I could hear the angels, but it only happened when I was in the Eva. Same with Toji and Kensuke. Maybe that's why I could hear it. Judging from the questions I assume you haven't heard anything on the bridge."

Ritsuko said, "No we haven't. We are going to need to look into this."

* * *

Toji and Kensuke had been released later that day and returned to get lectures from Hikari and Toji's sister Kana.

They would not see Shinji for another four days as Dr. Akagi put him through every test she could conceive of. Eventually having discovered nothing unusual about Shinji physically and nothing to suggest mental contamination, Dr. Akagi had Okayed Shinji's release.

Arriving at school the next day he had stated for the record that he had never been happier to go to school in his life.

A week had passed since then. From there things started to become routine, In the morning Shinji would get up make breakfast, feed Penpen, and reluctantly hand Misato her first beer of the day to help with the previous nights hangover. Toji and Kensuke would arrive and they'd walk to school. School, synch tests every other day, return for evening at home.

Thus the sudden interruption of the cycle surprised Shinji as this morning Misato emerged from her room in full dress uniform and not hung over.

"Good morning" Misato said, using her serious voice she rarely used when not at NERV commanding a battle real or simulated.

A rather bewildered Shinji replied back "good morning"

"I'm going to old Tokyo on business. I'll probably be back late tonight so have take out for dinner."

Misato said then walked out the door "Later"

"Okay" Shinji said as she left. Then he turned to Penpen, "That was strange."

The Penguin nodded "Wark"

* * *

Misato looked out from the NERV V-TOL over an abandoned section Tokyo-1; the once proud city had suffered greatly due to the wars that had immediately followed the second impact and had been rendered uninhabitable and abandoned.

Misato sighed "It's hard to believe this used to be the flourishing capital of Tokyo."

"We're here" Ritsuko said as a large building that was to be the testing site for a private company to show off their latest creation.

Misato replied "Of all places, they didn't need to hold it here. So is JSSDF involved in this project?"

"No they aren't allowed to interfere." Ritsuko said

"No wonder they are doing as they please." Misato said as they came in for a landing.

* * *

"Thank you very much for taking the out of your busy schedules today to attend the demonstration of the new product that we at Japan Heavy Chemical Industries are so proud of." Said company executive Shiro Tokita from the podium at the front of the room.

There were many tables filled with both people and refreshments, however the table reserved for the NERV representatives was empty save for a few bottles of beer and the two women from NERV. The intended insult was obvious.

"Later you will be observing the official demonstration from the control room but we'll be taking your questions here." Shiro continued.

Ritsuko was the first to raise her hand with a question.

Shiro smirked as he said "Ah, the famous Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, it is our honour to have you here."

"May I ask a question?" Ritsuko replied

"Of course, certainly."

While this was going on two men pulled up chairs to join the NERV table. One of them was actually wearing a full lab coat, this one quietly asked "Mind if we join you?"

Misato gave a dismissive nod of assent.

The other man wearing a tan casual jacket over a shirt and vest combo and a fedora whispered, "Pretentious little asshole isn't he" which got a snicker from Misato and the man in the lab coat.

Ritsuko began, "According to our earlier briefing, this unit is equipped with an experimental internal N2 reactor, correct?"

Shiro replied, "Yes that is one of our product's most distinguishing features. 100 days of consecutive operating power is assured."

"But from a safety perspective isn't incorporating an experimental N2 reactor into a weapon designed for hand-to-hand combat risky?" Ritsuko continued.

"It's better than a weapon that won't work for over five minutes." Shiro shot back.

"But in an emergency there could be problems with the autopilot or remote control." Ritsuko added

"Still it's more humane than a system that induces great mental stress and causes mental instability."

Misato sighed, "Cut it out. This is just making you look childish."

The man in the lab coat said, "He's always like this. Making people angry is a part of his very limited skill set."

The man with the fedora said, "I can't wait for the day he crosses the line where his management skills are not enough to make him worth keeping."

"And there is still the issue of manual control." Ritsuko pressed on.

"I believe it is safer than a most dangerous weapon that can go out of control and run wild" Shiro held up a document marked 'top secret' and had a picture of a Berserk Eva unit 01 labelled as such. "A weapon that cannot be controlled is utter nonsense! It's like a hysterical woman. Unmanageable."

While much of the room laughed at Ritsuko's expense the two men at the NERV table just shook their heads. The one with the lab coat said "I didn't think he could dig himself a hole this deep this fast."

"Once we see how deep he digs himself we'll have to pass on that last comment to Dr. Hakubi." The man in the fedora said.

Misato gave them odd looks; who were these guys?

Ritsuko continued after a pause, "That's what our pilots and technology are for."

Shiro was wearing a smug sneer "You're not saying that science and the human heart will tame that beast? Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious" was Ritsuko's reply.

Shiro saw an opening and when for it "Because NERV relies on something as unreliable as the human heart, you've allowed a loss of control such as we just saw. That's why the UN had to approve that colossal supplementary budget. As a result, over 20,000 people in several countries are starving. On top of which, regardless of it having been such a critical incident, the cause is still unknown? I wish you would at least fulfil that much of your responsibility."

The man in the Fedora stared and Tokita as if waiting for something.

Shiro went on, "I envy you. NERV is protected by a super-legal act that allows you to avoid responsibility."

Ritsuko said, "It doesn't matter what you say. The fact is that only NERV's weapons have the ability to defeat the enemy."

Shiro's smirk grew even smugger "You mean AT Field? That's just a matter of time as well. Nerv's day in the sun will not last forever."

The man in the fedora put a finger to his ear. It was hard to notice the ear-piece under his hat. The man smiled evilly and looked at his companion.

The man in the Lab coat said, "They gave permission?"

"They gave permission." The man took off his hat and put it on the table and then moved to take the microphone Ritsuko had been using. "Mr. Shiro Tokita, if you are done soiling the good name of this company and those who now own this company I suggest you apologize to the NERV representatives while you still have a job, you sanctimonious ass."

The room went suddenly quiet. Shiro was enraged that anyone would say that to him in public like that. "Who do you think you are?"

The man ran a hand through his dark brown hair; an evil glint was in his brown eyes as he spoke with an accent that suggested English was his first language, "Matthew Tepliski, personal assistant to the Chairman of Covenant international, in other words the people who own your company, and the boss is more than a little annoyed by your little speech there. You'll be lucky to get off with the harassment law suits and sensitivity training. Not to mention if one of the three heads of the Jet Alone project, Dr. Hakubi heard you being a sexist twat. Isn't that right Doctor Ben-Loew"

Shiro paled rapidly, especially when he noticed the man in the lab coat who rose to take the microphone. The man looked a few years older than Misato or Ritsuko, with neck length black hair that hung down either side of his narrow face.

Dr. Yosef Ben-Loew Head AI designer for project JA said "Yes, I and the other two heads of this project as well as our corporate backers would be rather upset to learn you turned our work into a pissing contest with NERV. We are on the same side to preserve humanity. I would especially like to point out that without those of us brought in by Covenant international, including Washu Hakubi, our science and robotics expert and one of the greatest minds in her field, your company would still be coming out with that remote controlled walking bomb that ran on a nuke. Now let's hear that apology to Dr. Akagi, Mr. Tokita, so I can get around to addressing some of her genuine concerns about the product."

Tokita managed to stammer out an apology as Dr. Ben-Loew took over. "To begin with your concerns about using the N2 reactor in a close combat weapon, it was that kind of thought that made us scrap the original proposal of using a nuclear reactor. JA's main reactor has numerous fail-safes built into it that will render it inert in case of an emergency. We have also built fail safes into the fail-safes. Unlike a nuclear reactor this one is designed so that it is nigh impossible for the reactor to go critical and detonate. As for control issues, the on-board AI will not simply be a giant super computer relaying orders, it will think, react, and learn much like a normal pilot would. The other systems control systems such as the ones being used for the demonstration since I haven't uploaded the main AI yet are back-ups and redundancies. As to your final comment about NERV having the only weapons able to defeat the enemy; I would like to dispute that fact. My college, Dr. Mondschein, in weapon design has been experimenting with a number of possibilities for combating Enemies deploying AT fields. While we have limited ability to test such weapons we believe they have potential, which is part of why many have been designed to be compatible with the Evangelions as well as Jet Alone. "

The room was now completely silent. No one had been expecting that. Tepliski smiled and took the microphone back. "Covenant international believes that the projects it funds and NERV could benefit greatly from co-operation however we have chosen to wait until we have something we can bring to the war effort before we made official offers of friendship. Hopefully there will be something to this demonstration for all of us."

* * *

Before the Demonstration began the guests briefly split up into different assigned rooms. Just like the table NERV's was a thinly veiled insult on Tokita's part.

Matthew Tepliski looked at the room, "This is barely more than a locker room. Wow, I did not think I could be more annoyed with Shiro right now. I told the Boss that he should not have put that jackass in charge of this but he had to be nice to this company's old guard and since Tokita had been here from the projects beginning let him run this show. My sincere apologies Ladies; please bear with this for now. Hopefully I'll be able to make it up to you once I've finished making Mr. Tokita wish he had never been born. I'll see you at the demonstration."

As Tepliski and Ben-Loew left the two women stared at each other.

Misato spoke first, "Well that was unexpected, I was sure the entire company was going to be attempting to get some petty revenge for being cut out of the profit loop by NERV. But I guess these new guys aren't going to allow that kind of crap on their watch."

Ritsuko nodded "I was surprised as well. Covenant International, they seem to have completely gutted and replaced most of the staff for this project. It seems that we learned more about them in response to that small-minded worm Tokita's petty revenge than we did from our information gathering about this project."

"But how did they even know about the AT field?" Misato asked.

"There's been a huge leak of classified material." Ritsuko said

"Clearly intelligence isn't doing their job right. Well from the look of it things could be worse." Misato said.

* * *

The massive storage structure opened, dividing down the middle and moving away to reveal the robot within. From a distance the armor on the machines lower body and legs resembled, its arms appeared to be mainly covered with armored plates ending above the wrists and meeting with what appeared to be large gauntlet like armor of the fists. Unlike the Evangelion there was not a distinct head, rather the robots torso served to contain the main reactor and much of the on-board computer technology as such it was rather more massive in this area then an Evangelion. It was mostly beige in color, save for the legs which were dark blue and red areas on the head and shoulders.

"We will now begin the JA activation test. There is absolutely no danger." Shiro Tokita said ever aware of the glare from the man behind him who could and would destroy him if he stepped out of line again. Matthew Tepliski was not in a forgiving mood.

Shiro continued, "Make yourselves comfortable and watch through that window."

The many people here for this event raised binoculars for a better view. Misato and Ritsuko stood off to the side, and were shortly joined by Dr. Ben-Loew.

As the hustle and bustle of activating the robot began Yosef said, "I assume it'll take more than a few steps from a robot to impress you ladies. Hopefully we'll get to the unit's true abilities soon, although until the final AI is installed it's still limited. Then again this is to please the businessmen and investors."

Jet Alone took its first step, the crowd was filled with ooh's and ah's. It continued to move forward effortlessly.

"It actually walks! I guess this company did have something to be proud of." Misato said.

Dr. Ben-Loew frowned, "We made sure it could do more than just walk Captain Katsuragi. Although I'm really glad we got rid of the ridiculous control rods of the original design."

There was a warning beep from a console and Tokita asked, "What's wrong?"

"This is odd" Said one of the technicians, "Reactor pressure is increasing."

"Coolant system temperature is also rising." Said another

"Activate the release valve." Shiro said

"No effect."

Matthew signaled Dr. Ben-Loew, who rushed over.

Tokita said, "Shut off the reactor and have the JA stop until we can figure out what is wrong."

"Abort signal confirmed... It's not accepting it! The radio circuit is being blocked!"

"It's out of control!"

Dr. Ben-Loew shoved a technician out of their chair and began working at the console, Matthew beside him. "The system is locking out signals from us so we can't steer it, but I've managed a minor bypass to confirm the reactors emergency systems are initiating. Good news is that the N2 reactor will be Inert within the two minutes."

Matthew asked "And the bad news?"

"The backup power cell is still running so while the reactor isn't going to explode any time soon we still have a 35,000 ton robot wandering out of control!"

This was when Jet Alone put its foot through the roof sending people into a panic. And it just kept walking.

Shiro Tokita just stood there in shock, "This can't happen! It's not possible!"

"Quiet! I'm trying to work!" Dr. Ben-Loew shouted at Tokita and the panicking mob. "You're lucky you have me here or you would be in trouble. It looks like several systems that let us send orders from here have been compromised, possibly by an outside source such as a virus or hack. And that robot will have three hours to run amok. Fortunately it doesn't have any advanced weapon systems active but we need to minimize the damage while I restore control. If I install the AI it can reassert control and repair the damaged systems but I'll need a direct link or else it'll take me a great deal longer."

One of the technicians swore, "Jet Alone is heading for Atsugi!"

"So we need to get an uplink and stall it so it can't reach a populated area." Matthew said, "What do you need Doc?"

"I have the necessary transmitter in my briefcase; it can be plugged straight into Jet Alone and will allow me to do the necessary upload within twenty minutes depending on a few other factors." Yosef said.

Matthew said, "Right then we need someone who can stall a giant robot. Captain Katsuragi, I would like to request the assistance of NERV in this matter. Would you mind loaning us your tactical expertise and maybe an Evangelion?"

There was a brief pause before several people all responded at the same time, "WHAT!" mostly employees, investors, Mr. Tokita, and Dr. Akagi.

Misato gave Matthew a smile, "Alright but we'll be sending you a bill for the expense."

Matthew shrugged "fair enough. Tell us whatever you need and it will be provided."

Misato said, "Okay, I'll need a line to NERV HQ, air-space clearance from Atsugi, and a fully sealed hazard suit. here's the plan..."


	5. Heart of Steel

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Between Heaven and Hell

Chapter Five: Heart of Steel

"I'm sorry run that by me again. You are going to airdrop the Eva with you in its hand and personally go inside JA, which will undoubtedly have dangerous internal conditions, to set up the up-link?" Matthew Tepliski, Assistant to the Head of the massive corporation, Covenant International stared at Captain Misato Katsuragi, Tactical officer of NERV.

"Yup that pretty much sums it up. The Eva will keep Jet Alone from reaching the city limits while I set up the link we need to regain control." Misato said.

Matthew stared for a moment, "My God... God damn woman! Where have you been all my life?"

Everyone in the room was shocked by that, even Misato but maybe not for the same reason.

Ritsuko hesitatingly said, "You like this plan?"

"Love it. The only thing I would do differently is maybe try and dropkick JA with the Eva from the air, but since we are pressed for time and don't have a Magi-level computer running the numbers on how best to pull it off let's forget the showboating." Matthew responded.

"ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE!" Shiro Tokita screeched. "YOU ARE GOING TO TRUST THE JET ALONE, THE REPUTATION OF THIS COMPANY, AND THE LIVES OF THOSE IN ATSUGI ON THIS LUNATIC'S PLAN! IT'S NOT JUST CRAZY, IT'S FUCKING SUICIDE!"

Matthew sighed, "Now who's acting like a 'hysterical woman'? Frankly yes I'm going to trust this plan. First because I know that Captain Katsuragi is going to make sure that the people who are in danger are safe. If possible she will ensure that the Jet Alone unit is saved as well. As for your company's reputation; that'll be salvaged once we give the staff here a good purge to remove the rest of the incompetent scumbags that we missed the first time around. My boss was too generous then, I doubt he will be this time."

Shiro Tokita glared at Matthew with utter loathing, "How dare you talk to me like that? What makes you think you know anything about this company and those here who made it what it is today? You think you know everything about it? Well go fuck yourself, you American Pig!"

Matthew said nothing, but his fists began to clench and unclench.

Dr. Ben-Loew swore in Yiddish then said, "You've done it now Shiro, I suggest you start running. You have just made the biggest mistake you could possibly make around that man."

Shiro took a step back, then another. "What? I told him to go fuck himself."

"Yeah, that's not the problem. You called him an American...big mistake." Dr. Ben-Loew said shaking his head.

Matthew was suddenly in Shiro's face. "I" He grabbed Shiro, "AM" He lifted the squirming man above his head, "CANADIAN!" and hurled Shiro into a nearby wall.

There was a crash and several muted groans as Shiro just lay there.

Matthew took a moment to regain his composure. "Right, sorry about that. We have work to do."

Everyone sweat-dropped.

* * *

Shinji looked at Misato as the massive plane carrying the Eva took off.

Misato said, "The Target is the JA, We need to keep it out of civilian areas until the Pilot AI can be installed and reassert control. To do that they need to set up a stable link to the robot that hasn't been compromised. Shinji, once the Eva is dropped, run alongside the JA and place me on its back. Then restrain the target as best as you can."

"You're going inside?" Shinji asked.

"That's right" Misato replied.

"That's Crazy!" Shinji shouted.

"I know it's crazy but it's the best way to stop the target." Misato said

"It's too dangerous! I mean who knows what the conditions will be like inside, and what if it doesn't work?" Shinji said rapidly, concern clearly showing concern for Misato's wellbeing.

"If it doesn't work, then you need to take that robot down, by any means necessary." Misato said, "There are too many lives on the line to do nothing."

A voice came over the radio, it was Matthew. "Just remember, Captain Katsuragi, Jet Alone can be rebuilt or replaced. You cannot. Good luck to both of you."

Makoto Hyuga, NERV Bridge Bunny and the pilot of Eva-transport said, "Target sighted."

Misato looked at Shinji, "Here we go."

* * *

Unit 01 was released from the Transport and dropped to the ground, sticking the landing and running after Jet Alone. It didn't take long to catch up with the runaway robot and Shinji had the Eva grab hold of it. This was not as easy as it might have been since the giant handle that had been in the original design had been removed as a liability while fighting giant monsters or other mecha. But Shinji managed to get Misato onto the robot.

Misato opened the emergency access hatch and a blast of heat washed over her. "Talk about hot" She muttered before going in. "This looks bad."

"Stop you bastard!" Shinji shouted as he tried to restrain the Machine; however Jet Alone didn't want to play nice. While its programs for attacking things were not active, several basic self-preservation systems such as basic combat evasion were still online. Jet Alone kept trying to slip passed Shinji or out of his grip. This would make things shaky for Misato but it kept JA from advancing toward the city for now.

"Hurry up, Misato..." Shinji muttered.

* * *

Misato followed the schematics she had been given and worked her way to the necessary terminal. After using an access card, numerical code, and an emergency override on the terminal, Misato was able to plug in the drive that Dr. Ben-Loew had given her. She activated the radio to the base, "Do you need anything else on my end?"

Dr. Ben-Loew's voice replied, "We'll need you to input one more code in a little bit, then give some confirmations. Hopefully with Dr. Akagi's help I can get this done faster."

The voice changed to Matthew. "Things seem to be going according to plan. We're doing fine. You're pilot seems to be stalling JA just fine, so as long as no severe complications arise we should have our wayward son back in line."

Misato replied, "That's a relief" and began inputting the last necessary code on her end.

Little did she know that a rather severe complication was about to rear its ugly head. Literally.

* * *

Back at NERV HQ, alarms suddenly went wild. "Blue pattern detected. It's definitely an angel!"

Sub-commander Fuyutsuki stared at the screen. This was bad, not only was Unit 00 barely out of lockup and Unit 01 already fielded against Jet Alone, but the scenario did not call for the next angel to appear for about two weeks. "Call Unit 01 back from the field, how long do we have until the angel reaches the city?"

Um, sir...that won't be necessary" Aoba said nervously, he always ended up giving the bad news.

"What are you talking about?" Fuyutsuki demanded.

"The Angel isn't heading for Tokyo-3, sir. Its movement is erratic but if it continues the way it's going then it'll pass through the outskirts of Atsugi." Aoba replied.

Fuyutsuki paled, Gendo and the Committee were not going to like this. "Inform Dr. Akagi and Captain Katsuragi. I will inform the commander." In his mind he thought 'Everything is about to go to Hell'

* * *

Ritsuko paled as she answered her cell and Maya explained what was going on. "We need to get this done faster!"

Dr. Ben-Loew said, "We're making good time, we are farther along in Five minutes then I thought we would be in ten. The Eva has JA contained for the most part and we're almost ready to bring the Golem system AI online. What's the rush now?"

Ritsuko said, "NERV HQ has detected an angel, and its heading straight for us."

Yosef Ben-Loew swore rapidly switching between Hebrew and Yiddish frequently as his typing suddenly sped up even faster. "That's a damn good reason, Dr. Akagi. Okay let's get Golem up and running and it should purge the corruption of JA control before coming online."

* * *

Misato and Shinji were called a few moments later by Matthew. "Right we have a complication. Apparently we've got an Angel closing in on us. Misato you should get out of there as soon as possible and Shinji, you can probably forget about Jet Alone for now."

Shinji released his hold on Jet Alone as the data on the pattern blue was forwarded to him. It was airborne but appeared to be moving faster than the last angel, almost breaking the sound barrier. A moment later and it entered visual range: It was carried aloft by large slate grey wings; they resembled bird wings but were devoid of feathers. The main body was feline in nature and were an earthy brown with a darker lion-like mane around its throat that appeared to be made of scales rather than hair or fur. Its face resembled a ram made from the same material that the facemasks on Sachiel and Shamshel had been made of, its horns were jet black with tiny glowing dots that seemed to shift and swirl.

Shinji readied himself for combat, deploying his ProgKnife. The angel sped past, slamming both Jet Alone and Eva unit 01 aside as it tried to pass them. Shinji raked his knife across the angel's side drawing blood and nicking the wing. The angel flew for a few seconds before in slammed into the ground, it got up a moment later, jets of steam coming from its nostrils. It extended its claws and started looking around while its wound healed.

Shinji paused, something about this wasn't right. "Misato are you alright in there?"

Misato replied, "A bit shaken up but that's about it. Take care of that angel and everything else should be fine. JA isn't moving so I think everything is under control."

"Yeah that's the thing. Something about this angel seems... off somehow." Shinji advanced a step with the Eva only for the angel to back off. Shinji zoomed in for a closer look, and froze for a moment. "Um Misato, as far as we've seen unless the core is destroyed the angels will regenerate any damage right."

"Yes" Misato replied, "What does that have to do with this angel?"

"Well if that is so, how do you give an angel scars?" Shinji replied.

Misato and the support crew went quiet. Ritsuko spoke first, "What?" came her reply over the radio.

"The angel's flank is covered in scars, they aren't easy to see from a distance but there are a lot of them. And it's reacting like a scared animal." Shinji said.

"That should be impossible" Ritsuko said aghast.

"Well its happening. I'm going to try something." Shinji said, before closing the channel to the base.

The channel to Misato was still open however, "What are you up to Shinji?"

"Would you believe diplomacy?" Shinji replied.

Misato paused before replying, her deep seated hatred for the angels battled with the thought that perhaps this could work. "Give it a shot. Just be careful."

* * *

Shinji nodded and the Eva stepped forward, the Angel bunched for a pounce, claws extended.

Shinji folded his ProgKnife and put it back into the shoulder pylon then raised the Eva's hands to show they were empty. "Can you hear me? I want to talk" Shinji said calmly and slowly.

The Angel seemed confused; it remained crouched but did not move to spring.

"Can you understand me?" Shinji pressed.

There was a long silence; Shinji thought perhaps it wouldn't work. Then suddenly:

"_**Yes**"_

The voice seemed to carry exhaustion so vast as if it had been running for a long time. Shinji sighed in relief regardless, this was working so far. "We don't need to fight, I just want to talk."

"_**...So long...have I...endured the silence...**" _The voice was shaky and unsure, with many pauses "**_...so silent...Alone_**_"_

Shinji eyes widened, "Alone? What about the other angels?"

"_**My flight...my brethren...are scattered. I can feel... no other Ishim here.**"_

This caught Shinji off guard, "But the Angels have attacked this world several times already? Are you saying you aren't with them?"

"**_I can feel those... you speak of... faintly... They are not my kin... Elohim...not Ishim._**"

Shinji was confused, "there are different types of angels?"

"**_Many...but how could you not know this? ...This knowledge is passed from Progenitor to their flight...Who are you?_**" The angel's hackles began to rise as it went back to being hostile again.

Shinji tried to calm down the angel, "My name is Shinji Ikari. I am a human. We are the dominant species on this world. I would talk to you in person but I only seem able to hear angels when I'm inside the Evangelion."

The angel stood still trying to comprehend what had just been said "_**Inside... you mean... you are not the form before me...NO...NO it can't be! Deception! Treachery!**" _

Shinji had to rapidly pull away as the Angel lunged at him. "Calm down, we don't need to be enemies."

"**_You wear the very flesh of an angel! Of one of the Chayot Hakodesh themselves! I do not know what kind of demon you are but you're tricks shall not ensnare me!" _**

The angel charged forward with its head lowered like a battering ram only to strike against Shinji's AT field. Backing up the angel took to the air, circling around the Eva before dive-bombing at it.

Shinji opened the radio channels again, "negotiations have broken down. I'm going to try and take it down. I think the extra power for the Eva is mostly burned through so I'll have to make this quick."

When the Angel took its next dive Shinji met it with an AT field, Rather than repelling the angel Shinji let it fold in on itself slowly, bringing the angel closer while robbing it of momentum. Once the angel was close enough Shinji had the Eva grab hold of the angel's horns and drive it into the ground. Immediately Shinji shifted the wrap the Eva's arm around the angel's neck putting it in a choke-hold.

Shinji screamed at the thrashing angel, "Calm down, don't make me hurt you!"

"_**NEVER! Those who harm one of the Progenitors shall pay if it is the last thing I do!**"_ It bellowed.

And that's when the laughter started. It was a deep laugh, starting low and building in volume.

* * *

Back at NERV HQ, The Alarms reached a new pitch!

Gendo and Fuyutsuki stared at the monitors.

"What the Hell is it now!" the sub-commander demanded his self-control long since reaching its limit. Gendo was hiding his anxiety at this discrepancy from the scenario much better.

Maya looked up from her terminal, "We're getting a strange energy signature as well as what looks like another blood pattern detection."

"Is it another angel?" Gendo asked in his usual cold voice.

"We're not sure Commander." Aoba said, "It's like nothing we've ever seen or have on file, it doesn't read as an Orange or Blue pattern. We've designated it a Blood pattern Red."

Gendo's hand tightened into a fist. Anyone else would have missed it but Sub-commander Fuyutsuki knew this meant that Gendo was raging inside and only the man's utter mastery of his emotions in front of his subordinates kept him from going on a rampage of destruction and profanity across central dogma.

Kozou Fuyutsuki made sure no one was looking then pulled out a hidden hip flask and took a swig. He subtly offered it to his former student.

Gendo waved it off whispering "Later. And Stronger."

* * *

Misato came over the radio, "Please tell me I'm not the only one that can hear that."

"We got it on our end too." Matthew replied.

Shinji said, "I have a bad feeling about this."

The angel on the other hand went completely rigid.

"**I see you've found some company on this little dirt ball, Rahatiel. I'll have to see how they taste once I'm done with you.**" The voice continued as space seemed to warp around one point a short distance way.

The angel, Rahatiel, sudden broke out of Shinji's grasp and started running the opposite way, spreading its wings and taking flight. Rahatiel didn't get far.

A spray of spikes flew from the warping space and embedded themselves into Rahatiel's wing and body dropping him before he could flee.

The laughter came again as a figure emerged from the warp: it stood slightly taller than the Evangelion despite its hunched posture, a bipedal reptilian monster covered in thorny spikes. Its chest and underside were dark grey while the rest was covered with dull copper scales forming dense protective armour from which the mass of spikes emerged. Its hands and feet had three digits ending in large rending claws while its long tail ended in a flail like ball covered in spikes. Its head came at the end of a forward leaning neck that put it below the beasts shoulders, its face ending in a short snout with a larger lower jaw covered in a series a pointed scales somewhat resembling a beard.

This new abomination spoke once more "**Not this time little morsel, you have given Ziz and I quite the chase. I was sure he was going to get you before I did. The hunt was enjoyable so I'm going to savour devouring you.**"

The Beast thundered forward casually knocking aside the bewildered Shinji, advancing on Rahatiel. The Angel screamed and tried to run but was quickly ceased in the new beast's claws. There was a sickening crack as it broke one of Rahtiel's wings and dragged its prey closer before driving its other hand through Rahatiel's spine. With the same deep mocking laughter as before the thorny beast opened its jaws and tore a chunk out of Rahatiel's throat, taking a large piece of the angel's core along with it, before raising its head and gobbling the angel flesh down.

Rahatiel screamed in agony before pain reduced it to a twitching broken pile.

Shinji righted Unit 01, drawing his progknife and stared at the newcomer, "What kind of monster are you?" He said as he saw brutality on par with what had been done by Unit 01 when it had gone berserk.

The Monster turned to Shinji, laughing once more as it stood over its broken, dying prey.

**"Tremble mortals and despair, for doom comes to this world**

**I am the horrid lord besmeared with blood**

**Despair and pain is my feast**

**All shall be consumed in the flame that is my hunger**

**Sacrificed to my might**

**I am the King of Shame**

**The Demon of thorns**

**I AM MOLOCH**

**Hear my name and cower!"**

"Demon? Well that answered my question I guess..." Shinji said, as the Eva dropped to a combat stance, "But there is no way I'm just going to let something like you run amuck on our world. We don't let the angels do it; we sure as hell aren't going to let you."

Moloch laughed at the Eva, "**Go ahead and resist, it makes things more fun.**"

Shinji urged Unit 01 forward and charged Moloch. Moloch lashed out with a claw which Shinji ducked stabbing into the Demon's side before darting back out of reach. Unfortunately the wound didn't go deep enough to pass the demon's armored scales.

The demon responded by launching a spray of spikes at the Eva, Shinji responded by raising an AT field which to his shock the spikes seemed to through before being halted.

"**Hmmm, Impressive; the light of your soul is strong enough to ward off a flurry of my spikes. It has been some time since I fed off of such a strong soul. I shall enjoy this.**" Moloch said, his humour not abating. Then the demon charged forcing Shinji into retreat.

* * *

Inside of Jet Alone Misato shouted into the radio, "Can't you get this thing up and running faster? Shinji needs help! His power is limited, he's got no weapons besides the ProgKnife, and that thing is barely slowed by his AT field!"

From the other end Ritsuko shouted back, "We know that! We're doing everything that we can! If you'd stop yelling at us maybe we can get something done!"

There was a shuffling as Matthew took back the microphone, "I wish we could do more at the moment but we are doing all that we can. We've forwarded the battle data to NERV HQ as well to see if they have anything that can help faster. Just calm down and have some faith in the Kid, He can hold out until we get him some help."

Misato said nothing and slumped forward against a control terminal, "Come on you stupid machine." She whispered, "Shinji needs help..."

Deep in the control center of Jet Alone something clicked, a small screen lit up had code scrolling across it. Then it stopped and a few words appeared.

"**Cogito...I think...Cogito Ergo Sum..."**

The Robot rumbled and shook

"**I think therefore I am..." **

**

* * *

**

Shinji screamed in pain as Moloch's tail smashed into the Eva's side. Shinji felt as though someone had smashed his ribs with a sledgehammer.

The Eva was battered and damaged, with only two minutes of power left. In the back and forth between the Eva and the demon, Shinji had managed to get some hits in, even get past the demon's armor, but none of the damage seemed to be enough to slow Moloch down. With more time, information or better weapons perhaps Shinji could stop this beast, but right now he was getting his ass kicked.

Moloch loomed over the Eva, "**Well you put up a better fight then most. But the time has come for me to end you.**"

As Moloch raised a claw to strike the Eva, a steely grasp went around the demon's wrist.

"**I think therefore I am...I am therefore you fall!" **

Moloch turned in surprise just in time to catch a massive robotic fist in the face sending the demon flying.

* * *

Dr. Ben-Loew let out a shout, "Jet Alone is active! The AI has established control and Jet Alone has engaged the enemy!"

Matthew punched the Sky, as the room began to chatter and cheer "Yes! Alright then let's make sure all the systems are in fighting form." He turned to Ritsuko, "NERV has done its part, now it's our turn to help you're Evangelion."

* * *

Shinji was equally surprised when he looked up to see Jet Alone offering him a hand to get up. "**Jet Alone is online and reporting for duty. Need a hand?" **

Shinji accepted and Unit 01 was hauled to its feet. Jet Alone opened a compartment on its chassis, withdrew something and plugged it into Unit 01's back.

"**That should take care of your power issue" **echoed the robot's voice over both over the radio and out of internal speakers "**Now let's kick some demonic ass!**"

Inside Jet Alone Misato smiled in relief, "I like this robot more and more every second. Shinji, are you all right?"

"A bit beat up but okay. And you Misato?" Shinji said, just as concerned for his guardian.

"I've been better but I'm fine." Misato said.

"**Sorry about my internal temperature Captain, Environmental control is lower priority than my combat systems right now. Just hang tight while your pilot and I take care of this guy**." Jet Alone said to them.

Moloch roared in rage that a mere machine had dared strike him.

Unit 01 and Jet Alone turned to face the demon. Jet Alone asked "**Ready, Pliot Ikari?**"

"I'm ready." Shinji replied knife held before him. "Let's do this."

"**Revolver Knuckles Activate." **The turbines on Jet Alone's gauntlets began spinning rapidly, causing a faint glow to be emitted by the gauntlets,** "Combat directive North Star. Ass-kicking Music: Play" **

(Ai o torimodose, the theme from fist of the North Star begins to play)

Shinji looked at Jet Alone and then decided to try something, switching the knife to his other hand. The he tried to focus his AT field around his fist.

Jet Alone and Unit 01 met Moloch's charge with a two energy wrapped fists to the face, ironically it was perfectly timed with first 'You Wa Shock' of JA's chosen music that was now blaring over its speakers.

Moloch was blasted back by the blow. The Demon rose again after a moment and began firing a violent volley of spikes at the two mecha.

Misato shouted orders, "Shinji, raise your AT field to Cover both of you. Jet Alone, stay in front of Shinji your armour can take any that get through better than the Eva."

"Yes ma'am!" both replied. The volley hit Shinji's AT field, while the sheer number of spikes and their AT piercing nature let them break through eventually, the Shield held far better than against Moloch's first volley. Those that got through struck the mighty armour of Jet Alone as it stood in a defensive posture.

After almost a minute of firing spikes at the two Mecha, Moloch stopped needing to regenerate the expended spikes. Shinji lowered his AT Field glad that he had been given extra power for this fight. Jet Alone smashed off any of the spikes that had embedded themselves in its armour.

"**It's our turn partner.**" Jet Alone said

Shinji nodded, "right!"

The two Mecha charged at Moloch, JA on the left, and Unit 01 on the right. Jet Alone activated one of the few weapon systems that had been installed for the test run. Its entire right hand began to spin glowing brightly.

Unit 01 reached the Demon first, ducking under its claw slashes and driving the Progknife up through Moloch's lower jaw, then releasing the knife and moving away. Thus Moloch was speechless at the next attack from Jet Alone.

"**BROKEN MAGNUM!**" Jet Alone thundered before firing the fist from the arm and having it deliver a direct hit to Moloch's chest, leaving the demons chest scales shattered and scorched. As Moloch staggered back clutching its chest and trying to remove the knife from its jaw Jet Alone's fist returned and locked into place.

Jet Alone and Unit 01 again took positions on either side of the demon, but this time Unit 01 was on the left and Jet Alone was on the right.

Moloch managed to drag the progknife partway out and bellowed an animalistic roar.

Shinji said, "Well at least he's not laughing anymore."

Jet Alone replied, "**We showed him we're nothing to laugh at.**"

Moloch charged only to receive a double clothesline from its foes before a double kick send it flying back again.

Jet Alone said "**I have an idea on how to finish this sucker off. I am submitting it for your approval, Captain Katsuragi.**"

Misato looked at the plan that appeared on the terminal in front of her. "I love it but we need the progknife back first so I have a few changes to make."

Jet Alone analyzed the changes before sending them to Shinji and those at the base.

* * *

Matthew and Dr. Ben-Loew looked at the plan and then exchanged High-fives.

Dr. Ben-Loew pointed at an additional note that Jet Alone's AI had attached to the plan. It read 'Can we keep her? Can we? Please?'

Yosef Ben-Loew chuckled, "This is what I get for letting one of Dr. Mondschein's sons help me develop the first Golem AI to see active duty."

Matthew laughed as well, "Hey Quatre does good work, inherited his father's eccentricities but is a boon regardless. Even if he is the reason we try to avoid AI's that identify themselves as female."

Yosef groaned, "Don't remind me of that."

Ritsuko just looked at them as though they were insane.

"Inside joke, you wouldn't understand." Matthew simply said

* * *

Moloch roared and prepared for another attack. Only to see Jet Alone lifting Unit 01, which had both of its feet planted on the palm of Jet Alone's hand. Jet Alone brought back its hand and shouted at max volume "**FASTBALL SPECIAL!**" before hurling Unit 01 at Moloch.

Moloch was caught off guard by the flying Eva and found himself once more knocked on his ass. The Eva took this chance to yank the Progknife out of Moloch's Jaw before flipping back towards Jet Alone which was getting ready to act as a springboard for Unit 01.

"**Ass-kicking music: Track 2 Play...**" (Stan Bush, You've got the Touch)

Evangelion Unit 01 jumped on Jet Alone's linked hands and was tossed high into the air. Immediately after, Jet Alone ran forward and grabbed hold of Moloch.

"**JET ALONE SUPLEX!**" The robot shouted while using the aforementioned wrestling move on Moloch; putting him right into place for the next part of the plan.

"DEATH FROM ABOVE!" Shinji screamed at the top of his lungs as the Eva, glowing from its AT field, plummeted knife first straight down onto the fallen Moloch.

There was a bright flash at the point of impact!

* * *

Matthew and Ritsuko stared at the screen then rushed to the microphone. "Misato, Shinji, respond! Misato, Shinji, Respond! Respond!" the two of them were shouting the same thing at the same time.

There was interference for a while before there was a groan that was very familiar to anyone who was around Misato Katsuragi the morning after a bender "Could you be a little quieter...my head hurts."

The two sighed in relief. Ritsuko said "I've never been happier to hear you whine. Can you get a hold of Shinji?"

"I'm alright." Shinji's voice said over the radio. "I think I got him."

"**You bet your ass you got him.**" Jet Alone's AI replied. "**I am so glad I recorded all that, that possibly the most awesome thing I will ever see.**"

"Well it was you and Misato that thought it up." Shinji said.

"Don't sell yourself short Shinji" Misato said.

Jet Alone's AI said. "**Yeah you pulled that off perfectly. Including the battle cry and that was your idea. In fact...**" The Giant robot raised a fist. "**Respect Knuckles**"

Shinji stared at the robot for a second before raising his Eva's own fist, "Respect Knuckles!"

And for the first time two giant robots bumped fists.

* * *

Rahatiel gazed at the triumphant giant warriors as he felt his life fading quickly; the damage to his core was too severe for him to last much longer. But he had lasted long enough to see Moloch defeated.

Rahatiel did not understand these strange beings but they gave him a small sense of hope. Perhaps all was not lost. In his last moments, with the last of his soul's light he sent out what he could about this day to any other angels who would listen. Including two words: "**_Demon's Bane_**_"_

Misato slowly dropped from the ladder onto the outstretched hand of Jet Alone which then lowered her to the ground where Ritsuko, Matthew, and Dr. Ben-Loew were waiting. She turned to the giant robot, "Thanks for the lift."

"**The pleasure is all mine, Captain.**" Jet Alone replied.

Misato turned back to those waiting for her. "I must admit you guys programmed a pretty likable robot."

Matthew smiled, "Yes, and you took one of Jet Alone's over the top attack plans and improved on it. I can only say one thing to that... Marry me you radiant goddess!"

Misato snared at the man before bursting out laughing, "Sorry I'm not looking for that kind of a commitment right now. But please keep going with the flattery, it's nice to feel appreciated once in a while."

Matthew turned to Dr. Ben-Loew who was chuckling and shaking his head, "If only we could have gotten to you before NERV." Then Matthew sighed, "Well our loss. Well I need to speak with you about arranging transport for your Evangelion back to NERV and the proper bureaucracy for sending us the bill for deploying the Eva to stop JA. We can talk on the way to the change rooms since I imagine you want to get out of that Hazard suit."

As the two walked away Dr. Ben-Loew addressed the rather exasperated Ritsuko Akagi, "I was rather surprised by NERV today."

Ritsuko asked, "Because we agreed to assist?"

Yosef Ben-Loew looked around to make sure no one was listening, "No I was surprised at their hacking skills. It took longer for Jet Alone's AI to fix the mess they had made of the robot's programming."

Ritsuko stopped walking, eyes wide.

Yosef continued, "I wouldn't try it again though. Unlike the base system, that AI would be tough for you to deal with even with a full Magi hack. Inform your commander that we'd rather not have further sabotage attempts ruining the working relationship between NERV and Covenant."

Ritsuko just stared at the man who simply smiled and walked away.

* * *

Far away in a rather large office that was currently very dark, a man in front of a screen which displayed the events of the last day smiled. "Stick that in your scenario and smoke it."


	6. The Golem and the Doll Part 1

Author's notes: The material that was originally supposed to be Chapter six is going to be split into two chapters for the simple reason of its getting long and I still have a lot to cover before I'm at where I want to be for the coming of Ramiel. However since I've started my School semester I haven't had time to do much writing and those of you who have taken note of my little fic deserve a sign that I haven't abandoned the project. It may be a while until I have time to write another chapter but eventually I'll find the time.

NGE between Heaven and Hell Chapter six: The Golem and the Doll Part 1

Gendo Ikari stood before the black monoliths that hid the identities of the members of the Committee on Human Instrumentality, the secretive organization that essentially controlled the world, SEELE. These men had shaped the world after the second Impact, they were unflappable, all controlling, all danced according to their scenario. And now they were panicking, held only in check by the wills of a few powerful members.

One Monolith marked as SEELE 07 spoke first, "A number of unexpected factors have arisen in the scenario. We have read your report but would like to hear your thoughts in person."

Gendo inclined his head to the monolith, "If it pleases the committee. Where shall I begin?"

SEELE 09 spoke next, "The Jet Alone project and its backer, Covenant International."

Gendo nodded, "The sabotage was successful and the unit went out of control. However Covenant International recently acquired the project and had been in the process of upgrading the unit including the commanding intelligence taking control of the project out of the hands of its original team. Hence much of the panic we had hoped to create did not materialize and what did happen can be explained as the result of outdated systems in the unit. They also have the remaining members of the original team that designed Jet Alone to use as scapegoats. Surprisingly one of Covenant's first actions was to request NERV assistance in containing the rampaging machine until it was brought under control. This assisted them in regaining face and showing themselves competent in the events that followed."

SEELE 13 asked, "And you are not concerned about competition from Covenant."

Gendo shook his head slightly "They have stated that they do not seek to supplant NERV and are not seeking a cut of NERV's funding. While we should expect ulterior motives there is no reason we cannot use them to our benefit. Beyond that they are of little concern."

SEELE 08 said, "We will need to take further note on the activities of this company."

SEELE 12 said, "It is strange that they have escaped our notice for this long."

Gendo showed no reaction but made a note that no member of SEELE appeared to have connections or spies inside of an organization with a significant amount of power.

SEELE 06 said, "Indeed, now about the events that followed."

Gendo said, "After Jet Alone was stopped and control was being restored, a Blue pattern was detected; An Angel that failed to conform to any prophesies or the behavioural patterns of the 3rd and 4th angels. It appeared near the testing facility and was not heading towards Tokyo 3. This may be an annoyance since we will need to reassure the UN and Japanese Government that fortifying Tokyo 3 is necessary, however the fact this occurred on Japanese soil should be enough incentive."

SEELE 10 snapped at Gendo, "that is irrelevant we are asking about the angel! Not the petty politics!"

Gendo paused, examining the monoliths. Even with their faces hidden he could sense the fear they radiated. Gendo smiled and calmly said, "As you say. The Angel responded in a similar manner as a trapped animal or someone with shellshock. As I mentioned in a previous report the third child appears to be able to 'hear' and communicate with the angels on some level. While we are still looking on how the Evangelion makes this possible, the third child made an attempt to reason with the creature."

There were gasps and muttering among many of the monoliths until SEELE 04, one of the senior members of the committee who had said little until now, silenced them "Quiet, this is important. Carry on Ikari."

Gendo did so, "While the angel, referring to itself as Rahatiel, eventually went berserk and attacked Unit 01, we were able to glean some important information. The reason the angel did not match what we expected is that it was not one of the seventeen angels spoken of by the scrolls. With the exception of the second angel, the angels of prophesy are descended from Adam the first angel. According to the strange angel there are different classifications of angels, or flights, based around their progenitor angel. Adam is one such progenitor as is Lilith I would expect. The angels we were expecting were referred to as Elohim while Rahatiel referred to itself as Ishim."

SEELE 11 asked, "And we have no idea how many of these angel flights there are?"

Gendo replied, "None I'm afraid. Nor do we know how many angels make up each flight. Adam and Lilith appear to be on opposite ends of the spectrum in progeny the other flight could be anywhere between the two."

SEELE 09 gasped, "Billions of angels... can we deal with such a thing!"

The panic reasserted itself; the idea of an unlimited number of angels would make their scenario impossible.

And then SEELE 01 spoke. "Enough!" The head of the committee held enough power over SEELE that even now he could restore order. "I suspect that while this seems daunting our current concern is unwarranted. While we may attract the attention of the odd unexpected angel it will not greatly affect the scenario. This Ishim made no attempt to cause the third impact. It was not seeking its progenitor here. While there may be an infinite number of angels they are doubtlessly scattered across the universe. Adam's flight is the only localized angel flight, any others are bound to be few and only to arrive by chance."

Gendo nodded, "The angel's behaviour supports that conclusion. The fact that it did not seek out Tokyo 3 means it was not lured here by the prisoner of Terminal Dogma. It only engaged Unit 01 out of fear like a wounded animal. I suspect we may need to exterminate an extra angel or so but otherwise the scenario will be unaffected."

This seemed to calm the SEELE members a bit but they knew the worst was yet to be discussed.

"Then this brings us to the final matter" SEELE 05 said.

"The abnormality" SEELE 03 said

"The one that wasn't a blue pattern, the unknown being" SEELE 12 said

Gendo began, "Shortly before the appearance of a being that gave off an unknown signature, designated Red pattern, the third child noticed the angel Rahatiel possessed what looked like scars on its flank. With the regeneration of the angels this should be impossible. Then the Red pattern appeared through what appeared to be some sort of tear in space which we are currently studying. Whatever means of communication it employed it was projected so that it was easier to hear and record. The being, identified as Moloch, quickly crippled the angel as it tried to flee. Apparently the being was hunting the angel and had been for some time. After dispatching its prey it referred to itself as a demon and expressed its intention to cause further destruction now that its prey was down. It engaged Unit 01 and a reactivated Jet Alone, where it showed abilities to pierce AT fields without employing one of its own. Since it relied on natural armour rather than an AT field to protect itself Jet Alone's weaponry were effective against it more than they would be against an angel. Under command of NERV's tactical officer both units were able to kill the creature. This 'demon' appeared to be some form of predator than hunts angels. We are studying its remains but we know very little save that the angels are terrified of them."

That brought on utter silence. Not only was this an unknown not mentioned in the scrolls' prophesy that was the core of SEELE's scenario but the angels, godlike beings of terrible power were afraid of them. What could these things do to the scenario? What could they do to instrumentality!

This time the dams that held back panic burst and the meeting devolved into chaos. Screaming, muttering, panicked whispering flooded the space. Gendo merely stood impassively through it all seeing SEELE nearly fall apart as their scenario appeared to be coming apart at the seams.

"ENOUGH! SILENCE ALL OF YOU!" shouted SEELE 01. While the panic didn't dissipate they quieted down. SEELE 01 spoke "The Scenario will proceed as planned. These Demons have shown they can die just like the angels. Also they are vulnerable to conventional weapons unlike the angels. Nothing will stop the scenario; this is but a minor inconvenient on the road to instrumentality. Will you throw away your chance of godhood in your cowardice? This meeting of the Committee of Human instrumentality is over."

The Monoliths flickered out save for SEELE 01. Then it too disappeared revealing the image of the bend old man who controlled the committee. The man was ancient, many failing body parts had been replaced with cybernetics including a visor he always wore over his eyes.

Lorenz Kihl stared at Gendo Ikari. "You will carry on your duties at NERV as before. Deal with these minor complications and do not fail me. The scenario will continue as planned. Do not disappoint me."

And the image faded.

At Kihl Lorenz's Mansion the old man slowly walked out of the room he used to contact the rest of SEELE. Muttering to himself as he walked he opened a secret door and headed downwards. "The scenario is unravelling faster than expected. Those cowards are on the verge of abandoning ship at the first sign of trouble. I need to ensure the cowards don't lose their nerve; I'll have to talk with Him. This isn't what he said would happen."

Gendo Ikari sat in his voluminous office and pondered both the events he had just reported to the Committee as well as the old men's reactions. He was lost in thought when Fuuyutski placed a strong drink in front of him.

"So how did the old men take the news?" The Vice-commander asked.

Gendo calmly reached for the glass but did not drink "They were on the verge of panic. Only Kihl's iron will is keeping them from falling apart. This weakness can be exploited, but not yet. If SEELE crumbles too soon we will have difficulty maintaining NERV. Nonetheless this is all to our benefit."

"What about our scenario? Will it be threatened by these new developments?" Fuuyutski pressed.

"The Scenario will adapt. I will not allow these things to destroy the scenario. Nothing will stop me." Gendo stopped realizing he had been letting too much emotion show. Even he was not immune to doubt and fear of what this other angels, and Demons, could mean for his plan to get his wife back.

Kozo Fuuyutski raised his own glass, "To Yui, and the success of her scenario. Our scenario."

Gendo silently raised his glass and drank, the diabolical machine that was his mind already whirling as it planned and schemed.

Shinji stared in amazement at the controlled chaos around him. He and Misato were being given a tour of the facility where the remains of the behemoths he had fought had been taken to try and learn more about the angels and now demon. Teams of scientists, technicians, and engineers rushed to and fro trying to keep everything going.

The chaos was expanded further since NERV was not alone on site but was joined by numerous scientific teams in the employ of Covenant. The two organizations seemed to be managing to avoid stepping on each other's toes on site at the moment but it was quite hectic.

"So these are our enemies..." Shinji said looking at the section of the installation that was examining the remains of Shamshel. It was the least intact of the three dead enemies recovered but NERV had spent more time to date examining it so it was still undergoing some of the most extensive examination.

Dr. Akagi stood on a catwalk above them with one of the many scientific teams before she turned to look at Shinji and Misato. "Not just one but three mostly intact samples, Prefect for study. I appreciate it"

Misato replied, "So did you find anything new?"

Ritsuko led them to a console and began analyzing the latest batch of data on the three subjects. There was a long beep and the screen read "601"

Misato stared at it and asked, "What the heck is this?"

Ritsuko answered, "That's the code number for 'cannot be analyzed'."

Misato said, "You mean you don't know what the heck it is?"

Ritsuko curtly replied "Correct. We do know that the fourth angel is composed of a type of matter that characterized by both particulate and wave properties, like light. The angel you encountered at the JA demonstration appears to be made up of a similar form of matter, while the composition of the other entity has so far been even more difficult to analyze."

There was a pause as none of the three spoke before Misato asked hopefully "But at least you found the fourth angel's power source, haven't you?"

"Something like that anyways" Ritsuko said in return, "But we haven't been able to figure out any of its operating principles."

"Well I guess there's still a whole world of things we don't know about yet." Misato said.

Ritsuko stood up from the computer "The world is filled with mysteries. For example take a look at this. This is the fourth angel's inherent wave pattern."

Shinji and Misato leaned forward to look, but Misato ended up hogging the view of the screen while saying "What? Let me see."

As the data began to show an overlap of Shamshel's wave pattern and a human genetic template Misato gasped, "Could it be?"

Ritsuko replied "Yes although they are composed of a different form of matter, their actual composition in terms of the arrangement and spacing of the pattern falls within a 99.89% match of human genes. Preliminary data on the other angel shows a slightly lower percentage of similarity to humans but no more than a single percent."

"99.89%" Misato repeated having trouble grasping how the enemy she had dedicated her life to destroying could be so close to humans in any way.

"It really shows us just how limited our level of understanding is."

During the last part of the conversation Shinji noticed his father and the sub-commander passing them. Despite the anger and contempt he had for the man Shinji was still curious as to what made his father tick, perhaps hoping if he could understand Gendo Ikari he could find a way to forgive him, or at the very least know how to avoid becoming like him.

Gendo and Fuuyutski stopped nearby as a section of Rahatiel's core was lowered in front of them.

Gendo said to the work crew, "This is the core? How are the rest of it and the other?"

The head of the crew reported, "The core of the first angel recovered was nearly completely obliterated. Some small samples of it were collected but the rest was too damaged. We can't really use it as a reference. This second core however is far more intact. We managed to recover about 60% of the core between this and two other pieces although some parts are more damaged or deteriorating faster than others. We've yet to locate a similar structure in the third subject."

"There are no problems then. Dispose of any remnants that are too damaged to study." Gendo ordered.

As Shinji watched he saw Gendo clasp his for once non-gloved hands behind his back. Shinji immediately noticed the large burn scars on his father's hands.

Noticing Shinji staring off Misato asked, "What's wrong?"

Shinji, a bit startled and embarrassed replied, "Sorry I got distracted by something, it's nothing."

Misato shook her head, "You do realize that when you say something that way it's just like asking people to pay attention to you?"

Shinji grumbled to himself for a second before saying what had distracted him, "Well it's just that my father seems to have some major burns on his hands. While he and I are not on good terms I couldn't help but wonder how he got them."

Misato looked puzzled, "Burns? Do you know Ritsky?"

Ritsuko's response was rather calm and controlled, "It was before either of you arrived at NERV. Unit 00 went berserk during the activation experiments. You heard about this right?"

Shinji nodded, "Yes"

Ritsuko continued, "The pilot was trapped inside."

Shinji shuddered, "That was Ayanami wasn't it. That's how she got her injuries." It wasn't really a question.

"It was commander Ikari who rescued her. He opened the super-heated hatch with his bare hands. That is how he burned his hands." Ritsuko concluded.

Shinji stood silent for a moment having difficulty believing that Gendo have put himself at physical risk for another human being. "My Father did that?"

"Who'd have thought the creep had it in him?" spoke a familiar voice. The trio turned to see Matthew Tepliski holding a folder under his arm, and flanked by an unfamiliar boy who looked to be about Shinji's age. "From what I've read on the man, Commander Ikari is not noted for his selflessness."

Misato smiled at the man from Covenant, "What are you doing here? You don't seem the scientific type?"

Matthew returned the smile, "I'm checking in on the Covenant science teams, I actually have our latest findings on Moloch. Turns out parts of its body appear to have natural means of absorbing or disrupting AT fields. This may be extremely useful for future anti-angel weaponry if we can duplicate it." He handed the folder to Ritsuko who took it but said nothing to the man. "Afterwards I have a meeting with Commander Ikari."

Misato turned her attention to Matthew's companion. "And who is this?"

Shinji stared at the boy and couldn't help but feel something was off about him, but couldn't immediately place it. This feeling didn't go away when the boy stepped forward and extended a hand to Shinji. When Shinji hesitatingly took the hand he noticed the unnatural smoothness of the hand and the lack of normal human body heat.

Before Shinji could comment the stranger spoke, it was not a natural voice that issued from the boy "_It's nice to finally meet you face to face, Pilot Ikari, and nice to see you again Captain Katsuragi. You probably don't recognize me right now so allow me to re-introduce myself. I am the Covenant International Project Golem Pilot AI for Anti-angel combat unit Jet Alone. But please call me, Emet." _

Shinji's eyes widened as he stared at the boy who had just introduced himself as the Eva-sized war machine he had fought against and beside. "You're Jet Alone?" was all he could say in his amazement.

The robot shrugged _"Well technically Jet Alone is just another chassis for me as this avatar is but you could say that. But please as I said Pilot Ikari, my name is Emet."_

Misato and Ritsuko were equally surprised looking at Emet. The fact that Covenant had something this sophisticated itself was impressive; that they would use it for a war machine's AI was even more surprising.

Shinji slowly released Emet's hand, for a moment he was not sure what to say. But then amazement overcame shyness "Wow, you are pretty amazing, Emet! My friends at school are not going to believe this! As you said, it's nice to meet you face to face. And please, call me Shinji"

In Shinji's mind this was not much different than meeting another Eva pilot, although unlike Ayanami who was distant and he had little contact with he and Emet had already fought side by side.

Emet smiled and replied "_Sure thing Shinji. The Covenant higher-ups thought it would be good if I have a way to interact with my human comrades if I was to be fighting beside the Evangelions. I'm just glad for a chance to finally get some real world interaction; the previous generations of avatar bodies for me were far less immersive. Although I still need to adapt the voice synthesizer for this one. The voice sounds a bit too inhuman._"

Shinji nodded, "It is a bit unsettling."

Matthew smiled seeing the two get along. "Well I need to go speak to Commander Ikari. Emet why don't you and Shinji get better acquainted, we'll send someone to collect you when we need to. Pilot Ikari, Ladies, I'll hopefully see you all later." Matthew walked away ready to meet with the man in charge of NERV.

As they watched him leave, Misato said "We need to be heading out as well and I think Ritsuko needs to get back to work without us in her hair. Come on Shinji, Emet."

Once again we return to the massive dark and intimidating office of Gendo Ikari where we join the meeting between Matthew Tepliski, representative of Covenant International and the Commander and Vice-Commander of NERV. The meeting began painfully formal and polite. We join the meeting as it nears its conclusion.

"And that should about cover the majority of how Covenant will integrate its assets with NERV's existing structure. Any further logistic details can be worked out as we go." Matthew concluded.

Gendo nodded from his desk, "The Vice-commander, Head of Project E, and Tactical Officer can deal with the day to day details of the process. If there is nothing else, you are dismissed."

Matthew stepped forward and placed a folder of documents on the Commander's desk... and paused. "Actually there is one more matter to discuss, my superior was adamant that I address it and give you a personal message before I leave your presence."

Gendo raised an eyebrow and Fuuyutski gave the man a confused look. Seconds later his face turned into a look of absolute shock and amazement.

"This is on behalf of my employer..." In a flash of movement, Matthew leaned across Gendo's desk and smashed a fist into the Commander of NERV's face, knocking him and his Chair over!

The move caught even the master schemer off guard. Matthew made no further moves towards Gendo instead pulling out another folder as the Commander angrily got up from the floor.

Matthew spoke again his voice no longer the calm controlled tone he'd used to talk business, he tossed the second folder onto the desk next to the "That was for the shit you've put the children under your care through. My boss has put some pressure on the UN and they aren't going to overlook your mistreatment of the First and Third Child. While the investigation of the former is still underway due to your various walls of red tape and isolation around her which are being torn through as we speak, we've clearly seen how you've been mistreating and attempting to manipulate the latter. There are going to be changes in how they are treated, major changes. And they are not going to be kept in the dark either, we have discovered that the Pilots have been left uninformed about many aspects of their employment by NERV, for instance the Third Child is not aware of the compensation due to him and it appears that the First does not receive any under the pretence that she doesn't need it. On your desk is a file with the current conditions and compensation the pilots receive as well as how those are going to change. Further adjustments may be made as we deem fit. Neither you nor the Committee of Human Instrumentality has any say in this."

Gendo regained his composure, "You seem to be over estimating your influence in this situation. Regardless of Covenant's value or status you are not in the position to dictate NERV's methods of preparing Evangelion pilots."

Matthew smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You'd be surprised. Frankly while Covenant and the UN believe that the Evangelions are mankind's best hope for defeating the angels, we are not as blind as to not notice what devastation could result should the pilots end up mentally crippled. As such Covenant has convinced the UN to implement as many safeguards as possible to look after the Evangelion Pilots."

Matthew paused and looked deep into Gendo's eyes, seeming to glare straight past the glasses. "Let's be honest, I don't like you. My boss doesn't like you. Frankly you are a horrible human being bordering on being a monster. But you are the monster that humanity needs. However you have cut it very close in the past; the crippling of the First Child, sending the Third Child into combat without prior training, the first contact experiment." Gendo stiffened at this "This is too important to the human race for us not to get involved with. And we are going to make sure that you don't screw up what might be humanities last chance, whatever it takes." His piece said, Matthew headed out of the office.

As Matthew headed out the door, Gendo frowned. "Kozo, have that man killed"

Matthew popped back into the room. "Oh and in the event of an attempt on my life or my mysterious disappearance, I or my successor are legally permitted and encouraged by the UN to castrate you. I look forward to a professional working relationship Commanders, have a nice day."

Kozo Fuuyutski stared at the door as the Covenant man left. "Perhaps we are not giving Covenant enough credit, they seem determined to meddle perhaps even against the committee's will."

Gendo rubbed his cheek, "Indeed, investigate them further. I want to know whether SEELE has a hand in them or what their actual agenda is. In the meantime we will take some steps to appease them; I'd rather not lose their resources over such a minor matter. We may even be able to pit them against the SEELE to strengthen our position. But they will not always be in a position of strength, when the time comes I want them dealt with."


End file.
